Kindred Knights: Book One: The Dark Rivals
by The Noble French Fry
Summary: Nerca Beyul, Lexoc Jogri, Oliso Dofer, Keldu Lujac and Jesbra Pupal are the Jedi Knights known as the Kindred Knights. And together, they're ready to tackle the galaxy. [1yr postTPM][Recommended for Jedi Quest fans][COMPLETE!]
1. Chapter 1

**Preface**

**Dearest Readers,**

Before you begin, let me explain a few things about this story, and about the Kindred Knights themselves. Normally, I wouldn't do this, but there is a lot of things to explain, that this story fails to explain by itself.

About this story… It was my first jab at a fanfic, many years ago. Beyond that, it was one of my first jabs at fiction in general, so I sincerely apologize for plot gaps and discrepancies, weak, ambiguous wordings, or plain out boring stretches. As I said, this story was my first. Since then, I have definitely improved my style.

On our other subject, the Kindred Knights are… special. To me, and in general. They are based upon myself (Nerca Beyul), my sister Lexi (Lexoc Jogri), my best friend Olivia (Oliso), second best friend Kelsey (Keldu Lujac) and friend Jessica (Jesbra Pupal). To the four, this book and series is utterly dedicated. Yes, the Kindred Knights were originally based upon us, but they evolved into something much more. At times, I now see that they are inconsistent and sporadic as characters, but they were my first.

In general, they are special because they defy Jedi laws to be an elite and utterly interwoven group. They break the laws against attachment to form a more perfect union. Beyond that, they are young, very young, for Jedi Knights, ranging from the age of 18 at Lexoc and Keldu to 20 at Oliso. There is a reference here to the mission that started the Knights' career, the mission to Barak II. I don't go into detail in the story, which I now view as a fault. So now, I will explain the mission of Barak II quickly.

_Cobbled together for a difficult mission to save the dying world of Barak II, Nerca Beyul, Lexoc Jogri, Oliso Dofer, Keldu Lujac and Jesbra Pupal never expected to find themselves inexplicably compatible with each other. No, it was supposed to be a routine mission, but against everything, they were forced into the frigid wilderness of the world, forced to rely on each others' strengths and cover each others' weaknesses. Thus they discovered just how compatible and fitting they were. At the end of the mission, it was decided that they were simply meant to be a group, and thus the Kindred Knights were formed._

I now like to refer to that mission as "The Great Enlightenment", and hopefully will write its story soon as a prequel.

Oh, and just on a last note… This was always intended to be a series, but I lost inspiration, so it halted midway through the second book. This story is finished, and I have a ton of short stories, but the actual, long books are done.

**Thank you for your time,**

**Nerca Beyul, Jedi Master**

* * *

**Chapter 1**

The Jedi Temple was an often understated crest of excellence and grandeur, home of ten-thousand Jedi strong in the waning years of the Republic. Thousands of years of lore and philosophy shaped this group of individuals, united under the cause of common good, as thousands of years of work had shaped this very Temple physically and spiritually.

And this Temple seemed to fall silent as five Jedi walked down the hall, shoulder to shoulder. Jedi Knight Nerca Beyul, a mere nineteen standard years of age, knew that it was because all the other Jedi wondered what situation had summoned the elite Kindred Knights to action.

Nerca was wondering herself, as she moved with the rest of the group towards their mission briefing.

The Kindred Knights were a year-old band of five powerful Jedi women, assembled as an elite faction of the Order. Together, Nerca Beyul, Lexoc Jogri, Oliso Dofer, Keldu Lujac and Jesbra Pupal had traversed the galaxy in this mere year they had been banded together. In fact, they would be celebrating an anniversary quite soon.

Gently, Nerca's mind touched on memories of the first mission, the one on which they had forged this bond they now held dear. The mission to Barak II had been a disaster in all aspects except the forming of the Kindred Knights. The Jedi Council may have even viewed that as a disaster, as the group's bond bent several rules against entanglement.

For once, Nerca did not care what the Council thought.

But for now, she would have to squelch any arguments against the Council, as that was the very band the Kindred Knights were now going to see.

Nerca glanced back at the five students that submissively followed. Each of the five Knights had been contemplating taking on an apprentice, and those students had been summoned to the Council chamber as well.

A rather short seven years ago, Nerca herself had been in their position.

When Nerca glanced ahead, the Jedi had reached the doors of the turbo-lift to the Jedi Council Chamber. The door hissed open and the ten Jedi walked in.

Somehow, the ride to the Central Tower's top seemed short as Nerca contemplated what the mission that lay ahead might be.

Even as they swept into the Council Chamber, dark-skinned Mace Windu began briefing. He completely avoided formalities.

"Your mission this time will be to track down an assassin," he said immediately. "This murderer tried to kill Senator Altamira Tonuu from Verdin and succeeded in taking the life of Senator Limono Anicaa of Uunja. When these attacks were made, Senator Tonuu was on the planet of Niam, and Senator Anicaa was on his homeworld. They were a mere two hours apart, the attack at Niam coming first. We have reason to believe that the surviving Dark Lord of the Sith may be behind these attacks."

Immediately, Nerca's mind began processing the information.

"In addition to this, there is another problem," Windu continued. "The planet Senator Anicaa represented—Uunja—is on the verge of war with the neighboring planet of Roloc. The Uunjaians accuse the Roloci of killing him. They have been bitter enemies for a thousand years' time, but neither has yet exposed the other of the crimes they suspect. So you must negotiate peace as well." As he spoke the last sentence he turned to Jesbra, the group's de facto diplomat.

"Careful, you must be," Yoda said. "Separate from each other, you can not. Foreseen it, I have. Guard the students you must, from the dark side. Giving into it, you cannot allow."

"You may choose on which planet you would like to begin," Windu said. "May the Force be with you."

"Yes, Masters," the Five answered together. With one swift, simultaneous turn they pivoted and strode from the room.

Out of the turbo-lift, they split as they headed down the various hallways.

Passing Jedi of all species imaginable, Nerca headed straight to her quarters. Before she even reached the door, it hissed open and she hurried in. All she needed was her already prepared survival pack. She grabbed it from the edge of her sleep-couch along with her comlink.

Hurrying to turbo-lift in the main hallway of the Hangar Tower, she swung the small pack onto her back. This turbo-lift ride seemed longer, as Nerca began to feel frowned-upon eagerness flow through her.

A quick, well-versed calming exercise took care of that before the doors swished open.

When Nerca stepped out, she immediately walked to the starship of the Kindred Knights, the _Cosmic Dragon_. The Kindred Knights were one of the very few Jedi who had their own starship. Most Jedi rode on Senate transports or on freighters, but the _Cosmic Dragon_ was paid for by their own hard-earned credits.

Nerca was always the first to arrive, as she was the group's mechanic and pilot. The _Cosmic Dragon _itself legally belonged to her. Before the forming of the Kindred Knights, Nerca had personally owned a smaller ship named the _Oceanic Terror_.

A year ago, she'd sold the _Terror_ to help pay for the _Dragon_.

Shaking off memories of her once-beloved starship, she activated the landing ramp of her new beloved and strode up it. She pushed a sensor sweep button on the control panel, and after a moment it showed part of the thruster connector needed replacing, the fuel tanks flashed empty and the cooling system had burnt a wire. Nothing that couldn't easily be fixed. Nerca hopped out of the ship.

One hand outstretched, she used the Force to lift the refueling hose while she rummaged through the wires for the right sized line. The hose connected to the tanks with a _click_. As she found the right wire and began to remove the control plate. She sensed rather than saw Lexoc and Keldu approach.

"Need any help, Nerca?" Keldu asked, her hazel eyes gleaming. Nerca knew Keldu would love to get her hands in the freighter's belly.

"You can replace the cooling wire," Nerca answered handing Keldu the wire. "Remove the burnt wire and tie the new one into place. Simple enough."

Keldu nodded.

Lexoc strode up the landing ramp, her long golden brown hair streaming behind her as she walked. Keldu disappeared into the side of the _Cosmic Dragon_, only her boots still showing.

As Nerca searched for an extra thruster part, she felt Jesbra enter the hangar. She only nodded at Nerca, ever-changing eyes gleaming at the moment an anxious pale blue. When Jesbra was half-way across the hangar Oliso appeared behind her.

"Almost ready, Nerca?" Oliso asked, her soft brown curls bouncing around her chin as she walked.

"Almost," Nerca called. "I just have to finish replacing the thruster connector control header." Nerca held up the part.

Quickly yet carefully, she removed the silver plate that covered the area she needed access to. She took in at the wires in an instant. Every inch of the freighter was imprinted upon her memory like the back of her hand. Every ding in the sleek silver plating, all of the multi-colored wires, every part of the cabin, every strong place, every soft spot.

She knew it from top to bottom, from front to back.

Sometimes she even felt as one with the ship.

She plunged her hand through the many colored wires, grabbing the old header. Just as Nerca snapped the new one into place she heard Keldu's muffled voice drift out of the side of the _Cosmic Dragon_.

"Finished!" Keldu crawled out of the ship, her face streaked with grease. Nerca laughed at the sight. Such a small job, yet Keldu still managed to get covered in grease.

"I hear you," Nerca said to Keldu, still chuckling. "Put the control plate back on and go ahead in." Nerca turned back to her control plate. She slid her fingers under the thin piece of metal and pushed it back into place. When she came around the edge of the ship Keldu was already inside. Out of the corner of her eye, Nerca saw all five students enter, shoulder-to-shoulder.

"It's about time you got here," Nerca called, gesturing with her hand. "Hurry up."

She hurried up the landing ramp. When she walked in, she noticed that Lexoc was already in the co-pilot's seat.

It was her turn to be so, wasn't it?

Lexoc, Oliso, Keldu and Jesbra switched off with the responsibility of co-pilot, whereas Nerca was always, always in the pilot's seat.

As Nerca plopped down in the pilot's seat, Kendona Zeke, Zela Jan Lexion, Yovo Ktarills, Jorzan Ovru and Vora zel Halcyon were making their ways up the landing ramp. Nerca drew her student Kendona aside.

"On this mission you will learn how to find an unseen character," Nerca told the young Duros. "You will learn to sense the emotion behind it all. You must pay attention to all of the clues. Small things will help as well as large. Do you understand?"

"Yes, Master Beyul," Kendona replied in his purring voice.

"Good," Nerca said. "Now get strapped in." Turning to the Masters of the assembly she asked, "Where to first?"

"I suggest we start on Niam," Jesbra said. As usual, Jesbra already had planned every thing. "Niam is closer. And I have a feeling Senator Tonuu is still there. Probably absorbing the Iamese's attention."

"Nerca, what do you know about Senator Tonuu, Verdin and Niam?" Oliso asked.

Nerca had deep knowledge that spanned nigh every planet in the Republic, some beyond. Such knowledge and the desire to learn had earned her several nicknames as a young student like: "The Walking Lesson Holo" and "The Human Droid."

"Well," Nerca began. "Senator Tonuu has been Senator of Verdin for five years. Not too long ago, her planet was under attack from the planet Emh. Verdin was rich in natural resources, but during battle many of them were intoxicated or destroyed. Many of the people were fleeing but Senator Tonuu rallied an army. Their small group triumphed but Tonuu was wounded in battle. She survived minimally scarred, but her planet was devastated. Until that point Verdin didn't import much. It was a rich planet. With their natural resources destroyed, Verdin must import a lot. They are trying to set up a trade system with Niam," she finished.

"So, Emh could be behind all this?" Lexoc asked.

"Or even Niam," Keldu suggested.

"Or it could be the Dark Lord of the Sith," Jesbra reminded them. "The Council told us that."

"Or it could be a million other things," Oliso added.

"It is improbable that it is the planet Niam," Nerca told the others. "The Iamese are extremely strict peace-keepers. And Emh has been punished by the Republic's forces for its unprovoked action against Verdin. The Sith are always a possibility, I must admit."

The group digested Nerca's statement as she began the _Dragon_'s short start-up sequence.

"And to Niam, we go." Nerca brought up the power in the repulsorlift engines and the freighter lifted from the hangar floor. Then she engaged the sublight engines, sliding the ship forward. The _Cosmic Dragon_ smoothly glided out of the hangar, graceful and gentle at Nerca's command. They shot towards the gray, dawn skies of Coruscant. And towards the unknown mission that lay ahead.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

The stars rushed past the _Cosmic Dragon_ in a blaze of light as eighteen-year-old Lexoc Jogri peered out the viewscreen. The stars were no longer as they appeared from planets or realspace: no longer points of light that marked their respective systems, but mere blue lines that stretched across the viewscreen. Hyperspace was quite beautiful, even if hardly anyone ever stopped to reflect on it.

However, Lexoc had little better things to do during the long flight through hyperspace to Niam.

Nerca sat in the back further educating Jesbra, Oliso and Keldu on Verdin, Senator Altamira Tonuu, and Niam.

The students talked amongst themselves, as far as Lexoc could tell, about the possibility of becoming Padawan Learners soon.

Lexoc could hear Nerca as she told about Senator Tonuu. "Jesbra, Senator Tonuu is very dedicated to her planet and to the Republic. She is a great supporter of the Jedi. I highly doubt she 'shammed' this whole thing."

Just then, the ship's hyperspace controls beeped, signaling that they were approaching the Iamese system. Nerca heard the beep and was making her way to the front. She plopped down beside Lexoc and buckled herself in. As she eased back on the hyperspace controls, the ship reverted into realspace. Stars returned to points of light, twinkling around them like glitter.

Lexoc could see Niam ahead, a large planet in an orbit fairly close to the system's star. It was the center of the six-planet Iamese system, a planet mostly covered by water.

As they broke through the atmosphere a light mist swirled around them like a celestial figure descending from the skies. Lexoc could see mining towers in the sea that lay stretched to their right.

"Probably for mining zurite," Nerca said without prompting. "The planet is rich in it and the frequent earthquakes draw it up from the core. It's dangerous work, but the miners make a small fortune." Nerca's attention shifted. "There's Niolia, the capital city." Nerca pointed to a black speck framed against the wide aqua blue that filled the viewport. Lexoc could just make out the shape of buildings.

From the upper atmosphere, the city appeared quite small: perhaps a thousand square kilometers, which, compared to most planet's capitals, was small. Buildings looked as though they stretched only a kilometer tall, which when compared to Coruscant where Lexoc had grown up, was primitive.

As they drew closer, Lexoc could see that the buildings were made from a black stone and studded with blue and green zurite. That probably prevented them from going too high. And the city stretched farther than it looked, perhaps a couple of klicks so.

Nerca maneuvered the _Cosmic Dragon _expertlythrough the semi-crowded space lanes. Of course the traffic here could never compete with planetary Coruscant's…

The Iamese system's government building, rectangular and heavily studded with zurite, stood high above the rest in the center of the city.

Nerca zoomed towards the private docking garage and a voice crackled over the open comm, "This is the Republic Deferent Democracy of Niam," it said. "The public landing pads are down-level."

"Niam, this is Lexoc Jogri," Lexoc identified herself, "aboard the _Cosmic Dragon_. On official Republic Senate and Jedi business investigations. Clearance code: one-one-three-eight."

"Roger, _Cosmic Dragon_," the official replied. "Proceed to docking slot two-six-one, level fourteen."

"Acknowledged." She switched the comm off.

Nerca was already guiding the cruiser into the docking garage. She slid into slot 261 and set down so gently that for a moment, Lexoc didn't even realize that she had set down at all.

When she did realize it, Lexoc grabbed her survival pack and comlink, just like all of the other Jedi did, and strode down the landing ramp. They were greeted by a small group of security guards.

"Jedi," the head security guard immediately said to them. "We will escort you to Tonuu immediately, as per orders."

Though every one appeared calm Lexoc could feel dark ripples flow off of them in silent waves. The necklace gracing Nerca's neck glowed red, the color it turned when she sensed fear. Everyone was shaken by the fact that someone had gotten through security, heightening the level of security to twice of what it should have been. Security guards and droids constantly roamed the halls.

Altamira Tonuu's quarters were in the center of the building, vastly surrounded by guards, droids and sensors. The head guard tapped many keys before the door finally slid open, revealing a frightened Verdin woman.

Tonuu's long orange hair was loosely tied atop her head with many loose strands hanging around her shoulders. Her already pale skin was white in shock, off-set by the rich blue robes that were crumpled around her body. Her green eyes were the only thing that registered anything but fear. Another feeling marked Tonuu's features. Something that Lexoc wasn't quite sure of.

Despite the fact that it had been nearly twenty-four hours, she looked like she had just entered from the attack.

When she saw the Jedi, her look of fear disappeared behind a diplomatic mask. "Jedi, please sit," she said gesturing to lush blue cushions. "I suppose that you'll want me to relate the accident to you immediately."

At their simultaneous nods, she began. "I had just come out of a meeting with the regents of Niam. I was headed to announce the decision concerning the trade system to the people. When I had just come out of the building, I was shot at. I heard the blaster fire and dove backwards. The blast hit an officer. The second blast hit my shoulder." She gestured with a shaking hand to her shoulder. "I had just enough time to avoid the third blast. I was lying flat when the fourth shot struck, not far from my neck. I looked up just in time to see a black figure dart away. That is the last thing I remember before I fainted. I was not so shaken by this until I heard that this same character killed Limono Anicaa."

"Can you give a description of this figure?" Jesbra asked her voice soft and coaxing. She was gifted with a sweet, overly convincing mouth and will.

"It was tall," Tonuu said. "It was stocky and the best I could tell it was Human. I did not see whether it was a man or a woman."

"Do you have any idea of who it might be?" Oliso asked.

"I have no idea."

"Do you have any ties to Senator Anicaa?" Nerca asked.

"I have met him before, but he was only an acquaintance."

"Security was not breached at any time during the day?" Lexoc asked.

"Never."

Lexoc sat back, thinking. A tall, stocky Human or humanoid in black. Not much to go on.

"Senator Tonuu, is there a security holo-tape of that day?" Lexoc asked. "Or a record?"

"I believe that there is a tape," Senator Tonuu replied. "But the records do not show anything. Regardless, I will have the tape and records brought to your quarters after you are escorted there. But you may have to share rooms. Security has been sweeping most of the available ones. Is that all right?"

Lexoc sensed that this interrogation was about to come to an end. Oh, well. Tonuu didn't have any very helpful information anyway.

"That will be fine," Nerca said, standing. "Thank you."

"No, thank you, Masters Jedi," Tonuu replied diplomatically, dipping her head in the Verdinian equivalent of a bow."

All ten Jedi stood and returned the head-dip. And all ten swept quickly out of the room. The door slid shut behind them, sealing them in the broad corridor.

"Did you sense anything?" Lexoc asked the students. It was important that they learn things on this mission, even if they didn't become Padawans.

"I do not think she was lying, yet there is something that she did not tell us," Zela Jan said quietly.

"Yes, I thought so too," ever-impulsive Yovo said, her voice coated with certainty.

"But what would she be hiding?" Jorzan thought aloud. "And why?"

"Even I do not know, but I think we should discover that on our own, without Tonuu's help," Jesbra answered. "We may need her later but not now."

"I also thought that she seemed sad as well as frightened," Nerca said. "But why sad? I also sensed grief."

"Excuse me," a light voice came from behind them, breaking into their conversation. They turned to see a small Iamese woman. "My name is Xera. I am to show you to your quarters."

As the Jedi followed her down twisting corridors, Lexoc smiled. She couldn't help but feel that the murderer was already sliding into their grasp.


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3

Oliso Dofer watched the holovid in front of her. In it, Altamira Tonuu walked out on a high balcony, waving to those below. From behind a blaster fired. She dove sharply backwards, the shot missing her by mere centimeters. The bolt of energy went on hit an officer in the lower leg, and he cried out in pain. A second shot grazed Tonuu in the shoulder. She rolled to the side to avoid a third shot. The scrambling officers accidentally knocked her flat to the ground… The fourth and final shot struck centimeters from her neck. A shot that could have killed her.

A figure dressed in a long black cape caught Oliso's eye. It was, as Altamira Tonuu described. Tall, stout, Human or some sort of humanoid. The cape swirled around it as it darted from the balcony. The tape didn't show much, but for some reason Oliso felt like she was missing something. Something was there right in front of her face, but she was missing it. Oliso could see the same feeling stretched across Nerca, Lexoc, Keldu and Jesbra's faces, and feel it flowing off of them.

Keldu's hazel eyes, which were always easy to read, clouded with uncertainty. Jesbra's eyes gleamed grey-green, as they did when she felt uncertain. Lexoc's eyes seemed a darker shade of brown than they usually did and even Nerca's black eyes reflected her feelings.

Oliso and the rest of the Kindred Knights sat in the room that she and Nerca would share. Jesbra and Keldu had perched themselves in two chairs with cushions as green as the leaves of the giant Uri tree in the room's corner. Oliso, Lexoc and Nerca had folded themselves up on cushions the same color green as the chairs, carpet and walls of the room.

Afternoon sunlight flooded through the large window in the wall. The light reflected off the zurite in the buildings outside, bathing the room in an aqua glow.

The tape played over again. This time Oliso noticed a few more things. The person's hand was large, hardened and scarred. Probably a man. Oliso could see a strand of dark hair stream out from under the hood as the man ran. Small clues that were hard to spot but they might be useful. Judging by the speed and size of the shot, Oliso guessed that he was using a RX-22 blaster rifle. A rare expensive weapon. This person looked like quite an accomplished assassin.

Oliso took the records off the table in front of her. She quickly scanned the datachip file on her datapad. Nothing.

How did this figure slide in and out so fast? Was this perhaps an inside job? Or just a really talented hacker?

Dead ends were everywhere and there were so many unanswered questions. What to do next?

After conferring with the others, Oliso decided that they should wake the Padawans and do an on-the-spot investigation. When Oliso slid the door open she found Xera waiting.

"Where would you like to go?" Xera asked.

"After we awake our students, then we would like you to take us to the spot where Tonuu's crisis occurred," Nerca answered her. Xera nodded that she would take them.

-----

After retrieving students weary because of a six hour shift in their day cycle, Xera led the Kindred Knights and students down many busy corridors. They came to the most heavily guarded section of the building. The guards saw the Jedi approaching and pulled open the two, large durasteel doors as though they were royalty.

The small group stepped out onto a large permacrete balcony covered in scorch marks. Flanking the large balcony on either side and a level and a half up were smaller balconies, connected to the larger by staircases. Ornate and intricately designed railings skirted all three balconies and both staircases, depicting the epic tale of Trep-tiersk la Chet-Nmon, legendary Iamese hero in hieroglyphs.

Oliso examined the scorch marks on the permacrete below her feet carefully. Now she was almost sure that it was an RX-22.

Other than the large scorches, she saw smaller singed spots, which she guessed were from the average-sized blaster pistols that most people carried with them. She could also see scrapes in the permacrete, probably from where some guards had fallen trying to escape.

The Padawans were using the standard Jedi strategy of walking in ever-widening circles, examining the ground. However, the Kindred Knights' methods were slightly more orthodox. Lexoc and Keldu had made their way to the left hand balcony while Jesbra was examining the right. Nerca stood at the edge of the central balcony running her hand across the elegant railing.

Nerca signaled Oliso. "Come here."

She answered by jogging over to where Nerca stood. "What?" Oliso asked.

"Look at this," Nerca said holding out her hand. Oliso bent forward to look at it. On Nerca's thin hand were tiny little pieces of something.

"What is it?" Oliso asked, still staring at the substance.

"I'm not quite sure," Nerca said, pouring the pieces into a small canister on her belt. "But I mean to find out."

"What did you find?" Keldu asked, coming up behind Nerca.

"Small particles off the banister," Nerca answered, closing the canister. She gestured to Xera, who was waiting silently on the balcony's edge, immediately. "Please, call Tonuu. We wish to speak with her."


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4

Keldu watched as Senator Altamira Tonuu marched out onto the balcony excessively guarded. Keldu counted almost forty scarlet liveried guards, each brandishing a blaster pistol.

Senator Tonuu had changed her appearance greatly since the Jedi had last seen her, only a couple of hours ago. Now she wore long flowing magenta robes lined in gold shimmersilk. Her vibrant orange hair was coiled elegantly around her head with so many folds and tucks that Keldu could barely follow them. Color had been returned to her cheeks, but whether it was real or artificial, Keldu couldn't say.

Tonuu began to approach still heavily guarded. Nerca motioned the guards back. Some obeyed but too many still surrounded the senator.

"I said back," Nerca said forcefully. "We don't want all of those feet crushing the evidence."

"Ten?" Tonuu asked quickly. "Just ten, please."

"Fine," Jesbra, ever the diplomat, answered before Nerca could. "Where were you standing?"

"Here," the senator replied moving to a spot about ten feet from the doors.

"Show us what you did," Oliso said.

Senator Tonuu began striding forward the guards in tow. She faked a blaster bolt heading towards her and dove backward. The guards formed a ring around Tonuu, enclosing the Jedi in their circle so that they could watch.

Keldu stood looking down at a richly dressed senator wallowing on the ground surrounded by guards. Never in all of her eighteen years had she seen anything so ridiculous.

She felt a surge in the Force. A strange sensation, but she paid it no mind. The feeling was probably the affect of Tonuu's re-enacted feelings.

Moments later, Keldu had the feeling again, only much stronger. And then she realized what the feeling was. She quickly jumped back out of the way of a giant blast, taking three guards with her. She tripped but quickly turned the tumble into a shoulder roll and ignited her lightsaber. Well-rehearsed reflexes caused her blade to flick out in a defensive pose, covering her. Keldu saw Nerca's purple blade, Lexoc and Oliso's green lightsabers and Jesbra's sapphire one. The Padawans and guards had fallen back under the impact to safety … all but Zela Jan and one security guard.

Keldu quickly glanced through the hole that had been left in the permacrete.

Before thinking, she dove through it after Zela Jan and the Iamese man. Using a rare but centuries old trick, she pushed with the Force and matched Zela Jan and the Iamese's decent. Slamming a hand to her cable launcher, she wrapped an arm around each one. The launcher's hook caught on the permacrete and Keldu smacked the retract button. The small group shot upwards toward the balcony, permacrete raining down upon their heads.

That made the ascent much more painful.

Lexoc stood by the hole's edge, waiting. Grabbing, she pulled the pair from Keldu's grasp and up to safety. Keldu reached and pulled herself up. She looked up just in time to see a heavily armed fighter zoom away.

"Is everyone okay?" Keldu asked, breath eluding her.

Everyone sounded that they were, except Tonuu. Keldu ran to her, leaping another small hole in the permacrete balcony in the process. After a quick, amateur check, Keldu found a hole in her robe and a deep gash ran across her arm. Tonuu held a hand over it, wincing in pain.

"Oliso!" Keldu called for her medic friend.

Instantly, Oliso was at her side. Deft hands pulled necessary equipment from her belt. She worked quickly, her expert hands applying bacta and a bandage.

Sure that Tonuu was in good hands, Keldu strode towards Zela Jan, leaving her friend to her work. She knelt beside the panting young Human.

"Are you alright?" Keldu asked.

"Yes," Zela Jan replied. "Thank you Master Lujac. I dove towards Senator Tonuu, to push her to safety. But I found that Master Beyul had already done so. I had under judged my leap and I fell. A guard fell with me."

Something in Zela's words stuck in Keldu's mind, but it took her a moment to isolate the exact phrase.

_Master Beyul._

Keldu's head snapped up. She scanned those on the balcony with her.

"Where's Nerca?" Keldu asked, alarm beginning to pulse in her.

"She went after him," Lexoc replied.

As if verifying what Lexoc had said, the sleek silver_ Cosmic Dragon_ pierced the clouds above. The starfighter raced off in the direction that the other one had disappeared in moments before.

A moaning Tonuu switched Keldu's attention back onto the balcony.

"Hold still," Oliso demanded.

Even though Oliso was very gentle, sometimes her patience ran short. She finished wrapping the white cloth around the injured Senator's shoulder, and she helped the weak Tonuu to her feet. While Oliso escorted the limping Tonuu to the durasteel doors,everyone else stood and brushed themselves off.

More guards appeared and carried the Verdinian senator inside. No doubt to the med center. Oliso sighed and followed them. Everyone else turned to go inside. Before Keldu followed into the cool building, she gave a last look at the fading violet twilight sky.

Moments ago, her friend had passed overhead in the _Cosmic Dragon_, racing off to follow their criminal. While Keldu could never doubt the _Dragon_'s superb speed and maneuverability, nor Nerca's expert handling, it seemed too good that they could catch the criminal this early on.

Still, she could hope.

_Get him, Nerca, _she thought. _Don't let him get away._

And somehow, Keldu was sure that Nerca wouldn't.

And neither Keldu nor the other Kindred Knights remembered the small particles that Nerca had found on the banister.


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter 5

_Nerca you'd better not let him get away without learning something, _Jesbra thought as she made her way to the hangar to wait for Nerca's return.

_I won't, _Nerca's voice echoed in Jesbra's head.

All of the Kindred Knights were close enough to each other and so naturally puzzle-piece fitting, that they were connected, even when they weren't together. They could communicate and sense each other's health, abilities far beyond the Jedi norm. It was a useful tool, sometimes, but sometimes it was just irritating.

When Jesbra reached the hangar she found that the _Cosmic Dragon_ had not yet returned. She sat and waited for Nerca to bring home her prize.

-----

It was late night—just before midnight, Niam time—before the silver _Cosmic Dragon _came back… empty handed. The ship docked without having to give the clearance codes. When the landing ramp lowered, Nerca emerged looking fairly worn for a Jedi.

"What happened?" Jesbra asked rising to her feet.

"I followed him for hours," came Nerca's reply. "Only to lose him in space traffic. I caught up with him again and I followed till he disappeared off-planet. He made a clean hyperspace jump and I couldn't follow."

"So you did come back empty-handed." Jesbra tried not to let her disappointment surface, but obviously she didn't do very well.

"Don't be disappointed. I did discover something."

"What?"

"From the ship's ID I found that it's a Volorian GS-1138 large _Core_-class starfighter, heavily modified."

"So?" Jesbra asked.

"It's named the _Hunter's Prize_," Nerca said. "And if my memory serves me right it's one of a kind. Unless he sold it the hunter's name is Bi'tridu Llanef."

"I think I've heard something about him," Jesbra said reaching into the corners of her mind. "Native of Pirapoi. Comes from a long line of bounty hunters. Correct?"

"Somewhat," Nerca replied.

"What else do you know?"

"As far as background goes you've just about nailed it. Up to date is little. Always successful. Very expensive. His last job on Detal brought him trouble with the government. He shot their Senator straight in the third heart. It must've been a to-die-for deal for him to risk getting a death sentence in the whole Detorian system. Lanef's not going back there."

Now Jesbra was glad Nerca had been the one to go. She never would have put that together herself.

"The others will be pleased," Jesbra complimented her.

"I sure hope so," Nerca said. "Speaking of the others, where are they?"

"In the med center with Senator Tonuu. She got a pretty nasty gash across one arm and bruised an ankle. Oliso bandaged her up but they took her anyway."

"Any one else hurt?"

"Other than a few minor scrapes and bruises, nope," Jesbra replied turning to leave. Nerca fell into step beside her and she continued talking. "Zela Jan and a security guard fell through that first blast hole, but Keldu went after them."

"I thought I felt some sense of danger."

The rest of the way to the large sick bay was silent. The door slid open revealing Lexoc, Oliso and Keldu, but the students had gone to their rooms. The Jedi Knights had taxed them today beyond what normal mere students should be.

The moment Jesbra and Nerca walked into the door, Oliso stood.

"I bandaged her but they removed it," she said.

"Don't worry, Oliso," Nerca reassured her. Her voice softened and her tight necklace shimmered a comforting pale pink. "It's not your fault. The Iamese are just over reactive."

"I know." Oliso sighed, and shook her head. "What did you learn?"

"I think we might have a name," Nerca replied. "Bi'tridu Llanef. It was definitely his ship. I identified the _Hunter's Prize_."

"Interesting," Lexoc said. "So we're most likely dealing with a wealthy, vengeful foe, who's not afraid to hire an expensive hunter." Nerca nodded.

"I feel that it is best that we send the students back to the Temple," Keldu suggested. "They probably won't like it, but it is for the best."

All of the Jedi nodded in agreement.

"We should tell Tonuu immediately that we will proceed, but not here," Jesbra said. She strode forward and the others followed. With a gesture of her hand the door opened to Tonuu's room.

Inside Verdin's Senator lay quiet on a medical sleep couch. When the Jedi entered, her eyes fluttered open. Their clear green color was shrouded in fear. Before Jesbra even spoke, she muttered a request.

"Can I go home now?" Tonuu asked.

It sounded childish but Jesbra knew what she meant. She thought for a moment. Should Tonuu go home?

When Jesbra turned to consult the others, Nerca nodded shortly. _We've already agreed_, she whispered in Jesbra's head. _Tell Tonuu that we would be glad to service her by escort._

Jesbra turned back to the Verdinian Senator.

"We would be glad to escort you back to Verdin, milady. It is our duty as your Jedi escorts, after all. We shall leave first thing tomorrow morning," she promised.


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter 6

Nerca was _not_ looking forward to seeing Verdin _again_. When she was seventeen, she was sent with her Master on a mission with to aid Verdin in freeing itself from Emh. Her last mission as an apprentice to Master Vna Wyylka. There she had been captured by an evil scientific group called the Mettranaloovye. She had been set free from them, but they had marked her forever.

Nerca had carried two tattoos that ran up her right arm and from her left ankle to her knee for two years, since her release from the Mettranaloovye. The Mettranaloovye had sewn winding towers of fire into her skin. There had been a purposely terminal disease that had been in the strange roses that were being engulfed by a toxin on her skin. Along with her former Master, Nerca had destroyed most of that disease, but traces of it still surfaced from time to time.

Because of the disease, Oliso too knew about it. When problems came, Oliso would treat her friend. Other than Oliso and Nerca's former Master, no one knew her dark secret. Not Jesbra, not Keldu, not Lexoc, nor the Jedi Council.

The Mettranaloovye had been found and driven off-planet, but Nerca knew they still existed. It was just a matter of where.

"Prepare for landing. Erida dead ahead," the _Cosmic Dragon_'s on-board com center said.

"Roger that,_ Verdin's Jewel_," Nerca said to the com operator aboard the huge star cruiser.Then switching channels she spoke to another fighter escort. "_Cosmic Dragon _to _VJ-1138_. Keldu, move to port, I'll cover the underside."

Beside Nerca, Oliso fiddled with landing gears. Keldu was flying an escort fighter, Lexoc was in _VJ-4462_ and Jesbra was flying another larger escort, _VJSX-5683. _Jesbra was above the_ Jewel_ easing her way back some. Lexoc was guarding the starboard side of the cruiser and moving to give it room.

Keldu did as Nerca asked and began to roll to cover Nerca's spot on the port side. When the _VJ-1138_ pulled up only an arm's length from the _Cosmic Dragon_'s port stabilizer, Nerca accelerated pushing to the right.

When she was under_ Verdin's Jewel_, Nerca could just see Erida, Verdin's capital. She had been there before during the beginning of the Emh incident about a year and a half ago, but Emh had only been driven out four months ago.

Even before the city had come into view, Nerca had sensed the great destruction. She was sure that her necklace glowed a bleak grey and beside her Oliso's eyes had already clouded.

"_VJSX-5683_ to _Cosmic Dragon_," Jesbra's voice crackled. "Nerca, have you been to Erida before?"

"Yeah," Nerca replied. "A year and a half ago with my Master."

"_Verdin's Jewel_ to all escorts. _VJ-4462_,a little closer or you'll be off the landing pad. _VJSX-5683_, gain some altitude and pull out some more. Don't want you caught in our wake. Good_ VJ-1138_._ Cosmic Dragon_, pull forward."

Nerca accelerated and eased forward. She easily cleared the _Jewel_'s shadow. "Done."

"The government sector is mid city," the cruiser's com operator said. "Senatorial building is on the north edge."

"_Cosmic Dragon_ to_ Verdin's Jewel. _I know. Has it moved since the assault?"

"Yes,Master Beyul. Two blocks closer to the outskirts. In the Emhia Grand Assault, the old building was leveled. There is such a crater there now that we had to move."

"Got it."

As the group left the mountainous country side and neared the outskirts, Nerca felt like she had been punched in the stomach. Buildings that had been homes, parks, cafes, schools and shops that she had once visited were demolished. Though she had been here before and during the fighting, nothing could have prepared Nerca for what she saw.

The ruins had the same effect on the other Jedi. Oliso turned away for a moment. Jesbra's com rattled as she put a hand to her mouth, forgetting that her headset was there. Keldu gasped and Lexoc's com went dead for a moment.

The government sector was fairly well rebuilt but most homes were still wrecked. Most of the larger, richer homes had been fixed and some middle-class homes had been patched with plastoid materials and looked bright compared to the dark mess around them.

Nerca had friends here that she had made on her last apprentice mission. She sure hoped that Trylo and Bluet Cardei were alright.

When Nerca had sent Kendona back to Coruscant this morning, she had not wanted him to leave, but keep him close to finish out this mission. Knowing it was for the best, she sent him back anyway. Now Nerca was glad that the students' eyes had not seen this destruction.

Her com unit interrupted her thoughts. "_Verdin's Jewel_. There it is."

Nerca drew her attention back to flying. The Senatorial building was by far the most well rebuilt of the city, with a landing pad was large enough for three cruisers the size of _Verdin's Jewel_.

"Oliso, drop the landing struts on my mark," Nerca said switching to the repulsorlift engines. She eased forward to the edge of the marked slots. Nerca eased the repulsorlifts back, slowly descending. When the _Cosmic Dragon_ was about two meters off the ground, she turned to Oliso.

"Drop."

Oliso dropped the landing struts and the starfighter set down gently. Nerca activated the landing ramp with Oliso following close behind. At the bottom they were met by Keldu, Lexoc and Jesbra.

"Where to now?" Keldu asked.

"Uunja needs us," Jesbra answered.

"Before we leave, I'd like to visit some old friends," Nerca said.


	7. Chapter 7

Chapter 7

Lexoc looked around Erida as Nerca turned down "Joyful Street". Joyful Street looked anything but joyful. At the far end of the street some wreckage that was once homes was being cleared, but this end was horribly destroyed.

Many houses were just empty hulls with gaping holes in the walls and roofs. At the back of many homes were piles of durasteel and permacrete that families had moved from the inside. Inside, some had sprawled out blankets on the ground or what was left of a floor. Most had just given up and moved into shelters provided by the government.

The speeder that the government had lent the Jedi looked gaudily bright compared to the ruins around them. Every now and then, Lexoc would spot a home patched with bright plastoids, giving those homes an absolutely hideous contrast.

Nerca turned down another side street that was heavily spotted with patched homes. She pulled the speeder up to one small home that from the front appeared lightly damaged. Eagerly, she leapt from the speeder first and Lexoc followed. She rang the primitive doorbell and stood back.

A beautiful Verdinian woman answered.

"Nerca?" the woman asked, dazed. "Nerca, is it you?"

"Yes, Bluet," Nerca answered the woman. "It's me."

The woman threw her arms around Nerca's tall shoulders and Nerca returned the embrace, though less intensely.

"Come on in," she welcomed. The Verdinian led the way into a small family room with several, simple, hard-backed chairs. She gestured for the Jedi to sit and Lexoc did so. Bluet—as Nerca called her—disappeared into another room calling, "Trylo!"

From inside Lexoc could see that the whole back wall had collapsed and had been replaced with green plastoid. The home was fairly intact though plastoid in the floor suggested holes. The room was bare save for the chairs and an open fire place.

"Nerca!" said a jovial voice from the other side of the room. Lexoc turned to see a Verdinian man standing there.

Nerca stood and embraced him warmly. Turning to the other Jedi she began introductions.

"Lexoc, Oliso, Keldu, Jesbra, this is Trylo and Bluet Cardei," Nerca said smiling. "Trylo, Bluet, meet Lexoc Jogri, Oliso Dofer, Keldu Lujac and Jesbra Pupal."

"Ah, yes," Trylo said shaking hands with each of them. "The famed Kindred Knights in our home. I have heard so much about you and every one on Verdin knows of your mission to protect Senator Tonuu. And Nerca, now a Jedi Knight… Are you considering an apprentice for yourself, as the rumors say?"

"Yes," Nerca replied with a slight grin. "Kendona Zeke."

"Where is she?" Bluet asked.

"He actually," Lexoc answered for Nerca. "Kendona and the rest of our possible apprentices had to be sent back to the Jedi Temple once we found out who we're dealing with on this mission."

"Who?" Trylo asked.

Everyone hesitated for a moment. Was it wise to reveal this information to just anyone?

"Bi'tridu Lanef," Jesbra finally answered. "Nerca chased him on Niam. She pulled a good bit of info from his ship, the _Hunter's Prize_." Jesbra laid a hand on Nerca's shoulder and Nerca sat.

Trylo and Bluet pulled up chairs opposite hers.

As the Cardeis sat, Lexoc finally got a good look at them. Trylo Cardei was slender, medium-heighted man with long nut brown hair, loosely tied back from his face. His skin appeared dark in what little light reached in. Lexoc could just see a scar running down his left jaw. He looked rigid and his silver eyes watched her like durasteel.

His wife was almost as tall as he was, but a little wider around the waist. Bluet lived up to her name with hair so dark it appeared blue and eyes of pure ice. Her hair was pulled simply back into a knot at the base of her neck. Her simple purple robes reached to her ankles and swirled when she walked.

"So does Tonuu know you have a suspect?" Trylo asked.

"No need to worry her more," Oliso said.

"Do you think you've got him?" Bluet asked.

"No," Keldu answered. "We've still got to find him and I've got no doubts that he'll change his false IDs. He might even get a new ship."

"You're sure he's that scared?" Bluet asked. "After all he did crack through security more than once."

"He'd better be that afraid," Nerca said with a slight frown. "Once we get a mission and a scent, there's no stopping us. We'll track him to the edge of the galaxy and beyond. He is criminal, and our job is to stop him."

"He may be a bounty hunter and a fierce one, but he's no match for the Kindred Knights," Lexoc continued. "Run, he may, but hide, he cannot."


	8. Chapter 8

Chapter 8

_I'm glad that Verdin's destruction is behind us… _Oliso thought, watching stars through the _Cosmic Dragon_'s viewport._ But I have that feeling: destruction will rear its ugly head on Uunja as well_. She was so very happy to leave Verdin and she could see Nerca was as well.

Oliso knew Nerca's secret though Lexoc, Keldu and Jesbra did not. She had seen and felt through the Force the regret and a hint of fear on Nerca's face when they had first set foot on Verdin. Oliso hoped, for Nerca's sake, that the others had not seen or sensed her emotions.

"Oliso, look there it is," Nerca said pointing. "Uunja. Roloc is on the other side."

Oliso looked along Nerca's finger at the small planet that the _Cosmic Dragon_'s computer identified as Uunja, around the planet it identified as Gol'etra. Uunja was more like a large moon than a planet compared to the gas giant Gol'etra. A small swirl of blue and green next to an orange monster.

Oliso could already see a ring of ships circling the forested planet, but most looked to be Uunjaian with the symbol Nerca had previously called the Crest of Flames. Supposedly, it was Uunjaian lore that made the crest the planet's symbol.

Keldu made a shuffling sound behind Oliso, and she turned. Keldu sat, eyes closed and legs folded. Oliso knew that through the Force, Keldu was seeing a path in the future.

Though the paths that the future took were always changing, always moving, always switching places with one another, the Force had given Keldu strength in seeing it. Sometimes she would see many of the future's paths, other times one.

Long ago, Keldu Lujac had been named by the Council as having an extraordinary gift in that area. It was one of the traits of Keldu that made her a truly unique Jedi, just as Nerca's knowledge-retaining skills and piloting, Oliso's healing, Lexoc's fighting and Jesbra's persuasion.

Keldu sat for long moments without moving. Then her hazel eyes opened and she shook her head.

"Keldu, what did you see?" Oliso asked.

"On Uunja, old secrets will surface. Old fears will return. Old acquaintances will find their way back. A dark warrior will join with another and they will prove themselves a difficult match. And something fearfully unexpected will happen." Keldu shuddered. "Something that is unfortunately a loss to the light."

"A loss?" Jesbra asked, gasping a bit. "Can you tell what?" She paused. "Or who?" Her voice was a concerned whisper.

"No," Keldu replied shaking her head. "But right now I don't dare wonder."

"Is the loss that great?" Lexoc asked.

"I can't tell its size." Keldu sighed deeply. "All I see is dark will harm light." Keldu buried her face in her hands. "I wish that I could tell you more!"

Oliso could feel Keldu's frustration at not being able to supply her friends with more information, and Oliso's heart stretched out to Keldu.

"Don't be angry or sad, Keldu," she said softly. "It's not your fault. Maybe we aren't meant to know details."

"A map, a vision is not," Nerca said echoing Master Yoda's words without turning. "A vision is of what might be, not always what needs to be done. It shows perhaps will happen, not always what we should be doing. For the future is always changing, always in motion, affected by our present actions. We should be mindful of the future but not at the expense of the present." Nerca swiveled her chair to face Keldu. She pulled Keldu's hands from her face and held them in her own. "If we knew the details we would be trying to prevent and not be thinking clearly. What is meant to be will happen regardless of our prevention. And what you saw may not even happen."

"Thank you, Nerca," Keldu said smiling. "How did you know?"

"I've had that sort of vision before."

"Really?" Jesbra said, her voice anything but questioning. "Then perhaps it is your past that will surface." Her eyes went blank and emotionless. She obviously thought that Nerca was keeping something from her, and Jesbra was not very happy with that thought.

Lexoc's eyes went back and forth between the two, thinking over what Jesbra had said. Then her eyes stayed on Jesbra for a moment longer. Oliso could feel her decision to agree with Jesbra flow off of her like she felt the wind rustle her hair.

Nerca's eyes steely locked on Jesbra's.

"Per…" was all that Nerca got out before the _Cosmic Dragon _shook violently.

Nerca spun back to the control board so fast that her chair almost snapped loose from the floor. Her hands flew across the controls at a lightning pace, twisting, pulling and pushing. Oliso's eyes darted around the black abyss of space that surrounded them but she saw nothing except Uunja and stars.

She stretched out with the Force and extended her senses, searching for ships near them.

She had just located the starship clinging to the _Cosmic Dragon_'s port when the Identifier Friend or Foe beeped. The IFF showed an Uunjaian police freighter with its landing claw attached to the_ Cosmic Dragon_'s hull. Behind it hovered a large carrier, one that looked like—and probably was—a moving prison.

Both ships were heavily armed with repeating quad-lasers and ion cannons. Oliso could see three gunner mounts and a turbolaser on either side of the prison carrier and the police freighter sported four proton torpedo launchers, each carrying two torpedoes.

The _Cosmic Dragon_ was unmistakably out-gunned.

The wide range comlink sounded. "_Cosmic Dragon_, this is the Uunjai Police and Security Force. Prepare to be boarded and searched. Dart and you're dead. We will shoot. Repeat. Prepare to be boarded."

Oliso slapped the comm off in disgust. The Kindred Knights were helping Uunja, and they were being searched like criminals.

Nerca's eyes squinted, her teeth clenched and she slapped the comlink back on. She grumbled angrily through the comm, "Not in your lifetime."


	9. Chapter 9

Chapter 9

Keldu was up and running to one of the _Cosmic Dragon_'s three newly installed gunner mounts before Nerca even shouted the order. Because the gunner mounts were so new, Keldu hadn't yet had the opportunity to test one. She had helped Nerca install the mounts, but so far Nerca was the only one to test them.

Keldu jumped into the transparent ball, yanked the com head-set off of the wall and fitted it haphazardly. The small targeting computer switched on. Nerca had installed a small low-class targeting computer on the assumption that the Jedi probably wouldn't need it.

Keldu's comlink sounded. "Gunners. Knights, shoot to disarm not to kill. Jesbra, your mount over shoots to the left."

"Got it, Nerca."

"Keldu, yours goes over the top."

"Ok, Nerca."

"I'll melt the docking claw you take care of the guns. Nail one in the stabilizer or engine and it'll spin out," Nerca said.

"Got it," Oliso said.

"Ready …" Nerca said. Keldu readied herself, waiting for Nerca. Keldu heard Nerca swap to the wide-range com. "Uunjai Police and Security Force take this!"

Keldu saw torches and Nerca's pilot-controlled quad-laser cannons on the police freighter's five-'fingered' claw and melt through it with ease. Nerca jerked the _Cosmic Dragon_ free and tore off with the freighter following.

"Go!"

Keldu began to shower the police freighter's upper left torpedo launcher but most of her shots missed wide over the top. Keldu knew that it was because her vision still clung to her mind. She closed her eyes for a moment and summoned the Force. Keldu calmed herself trying to perfect her battle mindset.

"_Cosmic Dragon,_ cut your engines!" the wide range com exclaimed. "Stop running or you'll be breathing vacuum!"

"Not a chance," Nerca said sternly. Then Nerca switched back to the to ship wide com. "Watch it! Reinforcing double-man fighters at…" She listed coordinates for each gunner. "Keldu wake up! You've got a swarm headed your way."

Keldu's eyes flew open and she could just see more fighters coming into view. She swiped the vision into the far corners of mind trying to deal with the task at hand. She tightened her hands until on the controls until her knuckles turned white.

The first fighter swept close to her side, trying to land a couple of shots in on the left engine.

"Keldu, hold him off till I get the energy shields up," Nerca said.

"Will do." Keldu switched from lasers to ion cannons and snapped of a couple of shots at the fighter's forward shield generator. The first missed as he dodged right but the second nicked his shield.

"Shields are up at maximum," Nerca said, just as a laser bolt struck near Keldu's mount. The shield absorbed it like a sponge. Keldu snapped four more shots at the shield generator. The first two weakened the shield and the third nailed it. The fighter's shield went down in a blue flash and Keldu had a clear shot at its cockpit and weapons controls.

"Shoot to disarm, not to kill," Lexoc reminded them from the_ Cosmic Dragon_'s own cockpit.

A blow to the cockpit would most likely kill the pilots. Keldu took a couple of shots at its weapons control, but the fighter rolled right. She rotated her mount to follow the fighter, snapping off more missing shots.

An ion bolt streaked past from Oliso's mount on top of the_ Dragon_. It missed as the fighter dodged right again and Keldu tracked it.

"Oliso, let me take care of my own," Keldu growled. She checked her readouts fast, looking for an excuse to have Oliso get off. "You've got your own to take care of," she confidently stated.

"Alright, alright. Just trying to help."

Oliso's mount turned back to her own fighters and began firing.

"Keldu, finish that thing!" Jesbra exclaimed. "You've got more headed your way too."

Keldu's eyes ran over her readouts, checking for ships on her side but she saw nothing. "My readouts say negative. There's nothing over here."

"Well, just look!" Jesbra said. "Trust visuals over readouts."

Keldu did and spotted three smaller fighters heading toward her. "Nerca, my readouts aren't working!"

"You'll have to use the Force," came the reply. "I never quite finished that mount."

An ion bolt struck the shield near Keldu and drew her attention back to the first fighter. She rolled left to follow it and all of her targeting equipment totally shut down.

"Nerca!"

"I told you that one needed some work," Nerca growled back.

Keldu snapped off a shot at the weapons control trying to guide it with the Force. It struck and destroyed, but not before a proton torpedo came streaking toward the_ Cosmic Dragon_.

The_ Dragon _wouldn't be able to raise its minimal particle shielding in time and evasion was next to impossible…

That shot could end the Kindred Knights forever.


	10. Chapter 10

Chapter 10

Jesbra couldn't see the proton torpedo headed towards the _Cosmic Dragon_,but she could feel it. It was gaining on them.

"Shower it with fire while I try to evade," Nerca said. "Land a couple of ion blasts in its control panel and it'll blow. Hold on!"

Jesbra braced herself as Nerca threw the _Dragon_ into a wide loop trying to throw off the torpedo. Jesbra caught sight of the torpedo and began to hit it with twin ion blasts. Her blue fire was joined by heavy fire from Oliso's turret, light fire from Keldu and even Nerca's forward cannon fired.

Jesbra hit it a couple of times but shields protected it. She was glad that she had already taken out three ships. They were having a hard enough time with one torpedo.

The _Dragon _came out of its flip with the torpedo still on its tail. Nerca jerked into a hard left roll and Jesbra had to grit her teeth to keep her day's rations down. Nerca had been having a bit of trouble with her gravity compensators lately. She snapped off more shots at the proton torpedo, using the Force to keep them straight.

The roll stopped, with the torpedo well off to their right. But the torpedo corrected itself and continued on its course to destroy the Jedi.

_Only one torpedo_.

That was it!

"Nerca, …" Jesbra started.

"Way ahead of you," she mumbled. "My torpedo launchers need to be heavily upgraded…" She paused.

"Lexoc, ready the torpedoes. Fire on my mark." The_ Cosmic Dragon_ took another roll except to the right and Jesbra held on again. "Fire!"

Two proton torpedoes went screaming past Jesbra's mount in a blue streak. One continued straight while the other hung a wide left. The two torpedoes sandwiched the other torpedo in a magnificent flash of brilliant blue.

"Good shot!" Jesbra exclaimed. Jesbra's readouts began to beep wildly. She scanned them, spotting many more police fighters. "But our troubles are far from over."

Three small one-man police pods that had jettisoned from one of the fighters rushed past Jesbra, firing wildly. She spun to follow them, shooting back. The police fighter that the pods had come from began to hit Jesbra's back side with fire while she chased the pods.

_Oh, so you think that while I'm distracted you'll blast me out of the sky, huh?_ Jesbra thought._ You think that I can't handle all of you? Well, you're sadly mistaken._

Jesbra fired off twin shots at the pods and then redirected the second shot with the Force towards the fighter, striking it directly in the shield generator. The first shot kept going to the pods, striking the leader and sending him spiraling into his comrades. One of them then spun off, hitting another fighter in the starboard engine, sending it hurling off. Five in one shot.

"Good shot, Jesbra!" Keldu praised.

"Yeah, but there's three more fighters out there with three pods each and that prison carrier!" Nerca said, spilling out the remaining difficulties. "It isn't over yet."

"Yeah, yeah, yeah, I know!" Jesbra threw back. She was still quite angry at Nerca for keeping something from her. She grunted away her anger and began to track another pod that had ejected.

She followed it firing off ion bolts and trying to catch the pod. Jesbra followed it forward, backward, left and right but missed every time. She pulled right then darted left firing … but still missed. She began to grow angry and her shots grew thicker and wilder.

"Jesbra, pull yourself together," Oliso said calmingly. "Use the Force." The words floated over Jesbra's com sweet and smooth, comforting and demanding. What a voice Oliso could have when she wanted to!

Jesbra momentarily closed her eyes and reached out to the Force. She calmed herself, threw away all anger and perfected her battle mind. She sharpened her senses and reopened her eyes, feeling renewed.

Her first ion bolt struck the problem pod in the starboard stabilizer, sending it off spinning wildly.

"Gunner mounts, one half-disabled fighter, two pods and the prison carrier left, nice job," Nerca said approvingly. "Ready yourselves to break atmosphere. And be ready, that carrier might follow."

Jesbra took one last look around in space, trying to find the prison carrier. She looked all around but couldn't find it. Then she saw it just sitting there quite a ways behind the _Cosmic Dragon_ doing nothing. Jesbra's eyebrows knitted together as she thought while her mount retracted back into the _Dragon_.

Why would the carrier just be sitting around?

Why wasn't it following?

It could catch the Jedi; it still had enough firepower in it to blast them to pieces. The carrier hadn't even attacked.

Jesbra stepped out of the bubble-like gunner mount and made her way to the front of the_ Dragon_, still deep in thought. Oliso crawled down out of her mount and Keldu climbed out of hers behind Jesbra.

As Jesbra neared the cockpit a lone, yet striking, thought occurred to her.

_They let us go!_

She scrambled toward the cockpit shouting. "Nerca! They're tracking us!"


	11. Chapter 11

Chapter 11

"What?" Nerca asked wildly. Jesbra's statement set her in a slight panic. If that carrier was tracking, then the whole Uunjaian government could come after them. Force masters though they were, the Knights could not take down a whole planet's defenses alone. Grunting, Nerca ran a sensor search across the _Cosmic Dragon_. Sure enough, on the crack between the main forward laser cannon and the ship's hull was a palm-sized tracker.

But how would they get it off?

Nerca couldn't hit it easily with another laser cannon because of its position, and even if she could, there was delicate equipment in that join. If it was left there the whole Uunja government would be after them.

It appeared that the only way to remove it was for someone to get on the hull and unwire it.

"Knights, the only way to remove it is for one of us to get out there and remove it manually," Nerca said, gulping. "Any volunteers?"

"Nerca, are you crazy!" Keldu exclaimed. "That's next to suicide!"

"Well, if I blast it we'll be leaking air or worse, and if it's left the whole government will be after us."

"Why don't you get out there?" Oliso asked.

"What?"

"You know the ship best and you'd know how to disconnect it," Jesbra said, truth ringing in her words.

Nerca hesitated for a moment then nodded. "Alright, I'll do it." She headed towards the top gunner mount and up the ladder. She stopped near the top. "Cover me."

She opened the hatch and crawled out onto the _Dragon_'s sleek silver hull, the wind blowing violently against her. She crawled slowly to the power core's shell and its unwanted attachment as the _Cosmic Dragon_ dove toward Uunja's forested surface. Nerca reached the tracker and began to pull it lose when Jesbra popped up in the hatch behind her.

"Nerca, hurry up!" she called.

"I am!" Nerca yelled back. She turned back to the tracker and began to work it off quickly with her expert hands. She felt the ship behind her before Jesbra called out.

"Nerca! The Uunjaian police weren't too happy about that space fight!"

"Give me a couple of minutes and it'll be off!" Nerca yelled back. She turned again and closed her eyes, gathering the Force. Using the Force, Nerca began to pry the tracker loose as she could not do with her hands.

She had almost gotten it loose enough to pull when the_ Dragon_ dove left. Nerca almost slid off the edge as the Uunjaian fighter raced past them firing. She opened her eyes and lost her balance.

Nerca tumbled off the edge but managed to grab the shell of the laser and keep from tumbling to her doom. She kicked her feet along the_ Cosmic Dragon_'s side but her boots caught on nothing as she tried to push her way up. She knew all too well that if she let her grip slip, she would tumble hundreds of meters to splat on the ground below or to dangle helplessly in a giant tree. She closed her eyes and reached out to her friends inside the starfighter.

_Nerca hold on! _Oliso's voice said. _I'll be right there._

_Hurry, Oliso, hurry._

Nerca heard the hatch on top of the _Dragon_ open and Oliso crawl out. The Uunjaian fighter raced past again, firing at the two Jedi, venerable on the ship's hull.

"Nerca, give me your hand!" Oliso yelled over the wind whistling past their ears. "We need to get back inside before the Uunjaian gets lucky."

Nerca let one hand slide off of the turret that held her up and grab Oliso's hand tightly. Oliso's eyes narrowed as she struggled to pull Nerca up and as Nerca tried to scramble up herself. Grunting, Oliso managed to pull her up.

Before ducking back inside, Nerca turned and yanked the tracker off.

Once inside, Nerca almost fell over, going from the blowing winds on the outside of the _Cosmic Dragon_ to its cool, calm interior. As Nerca began to make her way to the cockpit, Keldu started to stand, offering Nerca the pilot's seat.

"No, you fly," Nerca said, sitting in one of the passenger seats. "I'm going to rewire this thing." She turned the tracker over and over in her hands searching for an opening.

"Why?" Jesbra asked, sitting across the aisle from Nerca. "What are you going to do?"

"Hack into it. Then I can intercept the tracking signal and I can get into the Uunjaian computer and see why they chased us in the first place."

"Can you really do that?" Lexoc asked. "I've never heard that that can be done."

"Yes, I can. Trust me, I speak from experience." Nerca popped open the tracker and began her rewiring. She looked up a few minutes later and signaled to Oliso. "Hand me that datapad," she said. Oliso tossed her the datapad and she began to wire it into the tracker.

Once she had it wired, Nerca used the datapad to tap into the Uunjaian government computer, searching for any indication why the government was chasing the Kindred Knights. She searched for many long moments while Keldu flew the _Cosmic Dragon_ towards Uunja's forested surface. The area they now flew over was simply wilderness, no settlements in sight.

When she found what she was looking for Nerca was shocked.

"Um, we have a problem. There's been a coup."


	12. Chapter 12

Chapter 12

"Coup? When? Who?" Lexoc exclaimed. The thought of an overthrow of a whole planet's government without the Senate or the Jedi knowing was unbelievable.

"Whoa, whoa, Lexoc," Nerca said gesturing with her hands for Lexoc to slow. "One question at a time. Yes, coup. When? I can't tell, the files aren't exactly specific there."

"Who, Nerca?" Keldu asked.

"One second," Nerca said. Lexoc watched intently as Nerca tapped many keys, digging deeper into the files, undoubtedly into areas she legally shouldn't be. It took many more seconds for Nerca to find it, while the suspension grew.

Lexoc could see the change in Nerca's face as she apparently found the answer to the last question. She looked into Oliso's eyes and there was a silent exchange of information, one that upset Jesbra terribly.

"Who!" Jesbra insisted. "Tell me and the story behind it. Now."

"All right, all right," Nerca said, taking a deep breath. "The government was taken over by the Mettranaloovye."

"Who?" Lexoc asked. She had no idea who these "Mettranaloovye" were.

Nerca took a deep breath again, obviously unwilling to answer. Oliso laid a hand on her shoulder and whispered something in her ear. Nerca nodded and turned back to Lexoc and Jesbra.

"The Mettranaloovye," she repeated. "When I was an apprentice, my Master and I were sent to Verdin, as you know, to investigate the Emh incident. There I found friends, the Cardeis and Eli and Schelle Jumleu, who I thought were friends. My Master and I where investigating, and I went to Schelle for help. The-ere w-as an acc-cid-dent," Nerca stuttered. "Schelle died and Eli wanted to get back at me," she said slowly, "though it wasn't my fault, and took me to an evil scientific group called the Mettranaloovye. They fed me lies that I believed, so I never told anyone. The only reason Oliso knows is that when I was an apprentice even then she sensed my fear when I returned from that mission." Finally Nerca's expression changed to a smile, directed toward Oliso. "Having that talent at eighteen is special, but then again she was a Knight then."

Lexoc was about to ask more about Eli and Schelle, then she remembered how Nerca looked when she told about Schelle's accident. Nerca had looked so sad, and she looked as though she thought that Schelle's accident _was _her fault. Seeing her friend's reaction tightened Lexoc's mouth shut.

"So, how do we deal with these Mettranaloovye?" Jesbra asked moving the subject, hopefully for Nerca's sake, but if past experience was any guide, it was more likely Jesbra was forming a plan.

"They are very scientific and through," Nerca said lifting her head up somewhat, from the natural hanging position that comes with speaking out of grief. "This won't be easy. It's a good thing we sent the students back. I think the best way is to just simply hit them where it hurts most. If I know them well enough, they'll not only have rulers posted in the government buildings, but their supreme leader will be in a secret hidden base. I say, find the hidden base, infiltrate and capture their leader."

"Infiltrating a hidden base, with numbers their size?" Jesbra asked skeptical. "Not a clever plan."

"Whoa, whoa, wait a second," Keldu said from the pilot's chair where she was still in Nerca's usual position. "Our mission was to find Annica's killer, not to demolish a crime group."

Lexoc stared at Keldu's back in disbelief. How could she say that? The Jedi's first priority was the people; helping take back their government was probably best for the people. But before she could open her mouth Nerca's hand came up to silence her.

"Before you say anything, I think we're dealing with the same thing here. Who's to say the Mettranaloovye didn't hire Llanef? Think about it. The Mettranaloovye must've been planning this takeover for a while. They hire a fast, quiet way to assassinate the Senator, sending the Uunjaians into panic mode. The Uunjaians blame the Rolocis and begin a war against them, while most troops are gone takeover is as easy as stealing a moloberry pie from an open window."

Lexoc thought over it for a moment. The way Nerca put it, takeover was that easy if you had a plan. "Yes, but there is a puzzle piece that doesn't fit," she said. "Why go after Tonuu as well?"

"That, I still don't know," Nerca said, her necklace clouding over. "That still doesn't fit, but will when we find the Mettranaloovye."

"I hate to break up this discussion," Keldu said, still flying the _Cosmic Dragon_. "But we need to land."

Nerca stood and took back the controls from Keldu. She dove into the thick trees, nose nearly vertical, then flipped it horizontal again and landed with ease. Once the ship set down she stood, walked back and scooped up the tracker.

Lexoc watched as she separated the datapad from the tracker.

"What are you doing?" Lexoc asked.

"If I put this back the way it was, attach it to an ID Deceiver System, put a holo-projector on it," Nerca shrugged, "and you've got yourself a _Cosmic Dragon_."

"What?" Lexoc asked, a frown marking her face. "Basic and no mech-talk, please."

"I'll put out an ID Deceiver with the _Dragon_'s data readouts, attach the tracker to it, and put out a holo-image of it, then the Uunjaians will track it and blast it thinking they got us," Nerca said still wiring the imitation _Cosmic Dragon_. "Then put a cloaker on the real one and go in on foot. It's as simple as that, my friends."

_Oh, yeah_, Lexoc thought rolling her eyes. _That was _real _simple_.


	13. Chapter 13

Chapter 13

_Nerca, why didn't you come all the way out with the truth? _Oliso thought at Nerca's back, marching through the woods to plant the imitation of the_ Cosmic Dragon_.Nerca had not told the other Jedi about the strange tattoos, her illness, or the real reason that Oliso knew. She could see that Jesbra was satisfied with the explanation and she had felt Lexoc refrain from asking more questions, and Keldu had no real reaction except for a small bit of surprise.

Though all of her friends were content with Nerca's story, Oliso was not.

Oliso had always wanted complete, straight out, plain and simple truth from others and for herself. But in this case, she saw that it was probably better for Nerca to come out with the rest of the truth instead of Oliso stating that Nerca hadn't told everything. That one would _really _upset Jesbra, and she would rather not deal with Nerca and Jesbra bickering again.

Oliso's mind left the thought there as she continued to follow Nerca and Lexoc, with Keldu and Jesbra tagging along behind. Several more minutes passed before Nerca finally stopped, checked their surroundings, and spoke.

"This is far enough," she said, dropping the giant imitation of the Kindred Knights' _Cosmic Dragon_. Nerca began final checks on the equipment and then turned to face her friends.

"How do you propose we find these 'Mettranaloovye'?" Jesbra asked Nerca.

"Simple, either by Jedi tracking or," Nerca drew the same small datapad that she had used to rewire the Uunjaian tracker from her belt, "use this small datapad that I equipped with a tech-scanner."

"Probably Jedi tracking," said Lexoc. "No doubt the Mettranaloovye have cloakers on their fortress, and guards will be easier to sense if we are focused on the Force."

"True," Oliso agreed.

"Jedi tracking it is," Nerca said, pocketing the datapad and closing her eyes.

Oliso too closed her eyes and began to draw on the Force. She felt Jesbra, Keldu and Lexoc do the same. Oliso's eyes opened, her senses enhanced by the Force. She immediately began scanning the ground for signs of footprints, tracks and feeling for the special touch of a recent presence, where someone had laid a hand on a tree or stopped to sit down on a rock.

The first things Oliso saw were small trails left in the tall grass, probably left by a speeder bike. This was a clue that was so small only tracking equipment or a very skilled eye could spot it. Oliso could see that the others had spotted it as well and were beginning to walk slowly in that direction. She followed, still scanning the ground for clues.

The Kindred Knights were able to follow that same speeder trail for quite a while, occasionally seeing a footprint in wet mud, crunched leaves or a snapped twig. Oliso was about to suggest that they leave the speeder trail when ahead Lexoc stopped and spread her arms for the others to stop as well.

"There's a large pit here," she said, lowering her arms.

Oliso looked but saw nothing but a small clearing in between four or five extra large trees and many smaller ones, but she could feel it. A large pit that had deceived many who had tried to find these Mettranaloovye, a deep pit that had taken multiple lives. So many had tried to find the Mettranaloovye and had fallen directly into a lethal trap.

A cool, whispering wind swirled across the clearing, carrying dead leaves, billowing Oliso's hair, and creating an eerie scene as the late sun flooded through the trees, contributing to the eerie cast. She closed her eyes and let the deception, death, eagerness, surprise and all of the feelings that those who had died felt before tumbling to their doom, fill her senses. Then without opening their eyes the Jedi joined hands, and reached out to all of those who had been affected by the deaths, in their own way of mourning.

After opening her eyes and shaking the feelings from herself, Oliso spoke. "How do we cross?"

"It's to long to jump," Nerca said.

"Walking around will take too long," Keldu added.

Nerca turned away from the others, looking at the disguised and covered pit. She turned back with a wide smile on her face. "Then we'll have to go over it."

"Over it?" Jesbra asked, voicing Oliso's—and probably Keldu and Lexoc's too—thoughts. "How?"

Nerca smiled again, a smug grin that split her face from ear to ear. "Vines." She pointed indicating the many thick vines dangling from the trees.

Jesbra started to protest, but Oliso saw her visibly decide that now was not the time to argue. "All right, let's go."

Nerca led the way up the nearest tree, with Oliso, then Keldu, Lexoc and Jesbra following. Oliso scrambled up the tree with ease, as all of the Kindred Knights did. Nerca stopped ahead, climbing out onto a branch near the top, and Oliso kept up. As Nerca grabbed a thick vine and started swinging like a wild animal, Oliso tried to suppress a laugh as she did the same.

She was almost across the pit when she heard a snap behind her. She turned just in time to see both Jesbra and Lexoc go tumbling down into the deadly pit.


	14. Chapter 14

Chapter 14

Keldu couldn't help but scream as Lexoc and Jesbra both tumbled downward and were engulfed by the vines that covered the deadly pit. She heard Lexoc and Jesbra scream as well as both Nerca and Oliso shout. Her own throat vibrated with the word.

"No!" they yelled.

Keldu was tempted to drop down after them and have the same fate, but instead a voice in her mind told her that Lexoc and Jesbra would be all right, and that she ought to keep moving. Keldu continued swinging, following Nerca and Oliso's already rapidly moving figures.

Keldu dropped to the ground louder than she usually would have, but her upset mind deprived her of her usual Jedi silence. She ran her fastest to the pit's edge, ready to dive in, but Nerca's arm shot out to prevent her.

"Let me go!" Keldu snapped at Nerca. "We have to go after them!"

"No, stop," Nerca said, still holding, eyes staring downward but not really looking. "Feel. Their presences are gone."

"What do you mean 'gone'?" Keldu retorted still struggling to break free.

"Gone," Oliso's eyes closed, "their presences are not there. Not dead, just gone."

"What?" Keldu asked turning to face them.

"Close your eyes, feel, and see," Nerca said, her eyes still staring at the place where Lexoc and Jesbra had fallen, now recovered by vines.

Keldu sighed and closed her eyes, reaching for the connection between her and her friends. She felt Nerca and Oliso beside her, but the connection between Keldu, Jesbra and Lexoc was gone. They weren't dead; Keldu would _know_ if that happened, their presence was just … gone. As Nerca and Oliso had said.

As if the vines had pulled their one-of-a-kind presences from their friends, or someone else was using the Force to cloak them from Keldu, Nerca and Oliso.

Keldu truly hoped that it wasn't the latter. That could mean that the Sith were alive as the Jedi Council had feared.

Keldu opened her eyes and unsheathed her lightsaber. The blue blade hissed to life and was joined by the purple shaft of light that was Nerca's and the green blade of Oliso's lightsaber. All three lightsabers began to slice through the mat of vines to the pit below at a lightning pace.

Keldu was the first to jump down.

She landed softly in the dark mud, and trudged forward looking for Lexoc and Jesbra. The mud swirled halfway up to Keldu's knees, and she left trails in the goo behind her that soon covered themselves over. Nerca and Oliso landed behind her and began walking toward her.

Not much light filtered through the trees then through the vine mat high over Keldu's head, but the mud was extremely warm. The walls were made of a drier mud that also radiated heat. It was peculiar, almost like being in an oven, only milder.

Keldu could see that even though from above the hole which Lexoc and Jesbra had fallen through looked recovered, the under side wasn't. She ran to the spot where they must've fallen, flinging mud that was joined by mud being flung from Oliso's and Nerca's boots. Reaching it, Keldu knelt to examine the ground.

There was an indent in the mud where they had fallen… but no Lexoc or Jesbra and no trail from the place. They were just_ gone_.

Keldu closed her eyes, reaching with the Force to search the pit. She felt the dark ripples of deceit and death flow from all of the cave's walls, from the thick vine mat over head, and the mushy floor. She felt the power of both Nerca and Oliso's presences beside her; she felt a tiny, faint, every so small twinge of Lexoc's and Jesbra's presences in the impression in the mud, but nowhere else. She felt a strange strong, emotional heat coming from everywhere, but she couldn't identify its source or meaning.

Keldu opened her eyes wanting to scream again. There was no way to find them.

She turned to the others and was about to tell of her feelings when Nerca's eyes opened, wide and as fear-filled as Keldu had ever seen them.

"What?" Oliso asked softly. "What is it?"

Nerca just covered her face in her hands, her dark golden hair falling all over. Her head began shaking back and forth a muffled, "No, no, _no_!" escaping.

"What?" again from Oliso.

Keldu laid a hand on Nerca's shoulder, asking softly, "What is it, Nerca? Tell us."

This time, Nerca removed her hands and lifted her head in defiance of any fear. "There is no fear" was clearly printed on her face as she said, "I know where they are."

"Where?" Keldu asked, startled that Nerca had picked up something and she hadn't.

"The Mettranaloovye," Nerca said, shaking slightly. Then she stopped herself and stood up straight. "The Mettranaloovye have them."

"But… _how_?" Oliso asked. "They're just gone."

"I just know. That feeling." Nerca started slowly shaking her head again.

"What feeling?" Keldu asked.

"Like an immense emotional heat, it's the feeling of their presence."

Keldu didn't question Nerca's knowledge of the Mettranaloovye, she just didn't see how they could have taken Lexoc and Jesbra so quickly then wiped out their presence. She voiced her thoughts. "_How_?"

"I don't know."

Keldu turned away for a moment, pushing away the impossible odds and the impossibility of their disappearance. For a moment, she just tried to feel the connection between her and her missing friends. She reached out and spoke.

_I will find you, Lexoc, Jesbra,_ she silently vowed. _Some how, some way, I will find you. Know that and believe it._


	15. Chapter 15

Chapter 15

Jesbra awoke lying on something cold and hard. She tried to sit up, but was too dizzy to do so.

_Where am I? _she wondered. The last thing she had remembered was falling, then hitting warm mud. This was _not _warm mud. She had no idea how long she had been out, or why she had been out in the first place. Even that far a fall shouldn't have done that to her, not with the Force-cushion she'd used to lessen the impact.

She could feel Lexoc beside her, still out. But she couldn't feel Keldu, Oliso or Nerca anywhere. It was like they had just been cut off.

Something faint reached her. A tiny voice. Keldu's voice. Jesbra focused, listening intently.

_I will find you, Lexoc, Jesbra,_ it said. _Some how, some way, I will find you. Know that and believe it._

Then just as quickly as it had appeared, it was gone. She was cut off again.

_Keldu? Oliso? Nerca? _It was no use. No matter how hard she tried, she couldn't reach them.

At least Lexoc was still with her. Wherever they were.

Jesbra still couldn't make out where she was or how she got there. She could barely get a Force-sense of where she was, much less how far from Keldu, Oliso and Nerca she was. She tried to sit up again.

This time she succeeded. She opened her eyes to fuzzy vision. She could discern that she and Lexoc were in a durasteel crate. The crate was long enough for Jesbra to stretch out in, it was as wide as Jesbra's legs were long, and tall enough to stand up in—if she doubled over. The walls were cold and bare except across from Jesbra there was a small locked control panel and on the side wall was a small window covered with bars of electric energy.

They were trapped.

But by who?

Lexoc stirred and awoke. Trying to sit up, she fell just like Jesbra. Jesbra crawled to her while she was still recovering.

"Oh," she moaned. "Jesbra? Where are you?"

"Right here."

"Where are _we_?" she tried to sit up again, but failed.

"I don't know."

"Where are the others? I can't feel them."

"I don't know. I felt Keldu a minute ago and a message from her, then she was cut off again."

"What did she say?"

"She said, 'I will find you, Lexoc, Jesbra. Some how, some way, I will find you. Know that and believe it.' And then, like I said, she was gone again."

"So they think we're lost."

"I guess so. But I guess to them, because we're separated and don't know where they are, we are."

"I guess so." Lexoc sat up and shook her head as if to clear the dizziness. She opened her eyes and surveyed their crate. "Again, where are we?"

"_Again_, I don't know. I don't see how we got from that mud pit to here."

"Me neither. I wonder if anyone could answer that."

"I cssouldss," a voice came from the direction of the small window. It was a cruel, hissing sound that could barely be considered Basic at all. The purple electric bars shut down and through them Jesbra glimpsed an evil looking creature. It was a green, reptilian alien, one that Jesbra had never seen or heard of. The creature appeared male but Jesbra couldn't be sure. He was covered in large green scales, his eyes were large and yellow, split by black lines that appeared to be pupils. He had large sharp fangs that jutted out of the sides of his jaw menacingly. His appearance reminded Jesbra of old childhood tales of monsters and deep down, his appearance actually frightened her a bit.

"Who are you?" she inquired cautiously.

"Noness, of ssyour bussssinessss." Jesbra had to try hard to understand what the creature was saying with all of that hissing.

"Who are you?" she repeated harsher, feeding the Force into words.

"Youss don'tss needss to sknow. Allsss youss needss to sknow issss sthat youss aress luringsss yoursss friendssss heress."_ You don't need to know. All you need to know is that you're are luring your friends here._

"No. Who are you and why do you want us?" Lexoc spoke up.

"I'ss don'ts wantss yousss, I'ss wantss yourss friendss."_ I don't want you, I want your friends._

"Why do you want them?" Jesbra asked. "You have us."

"Yess, butss I'ss wantss hersss."_ Yes, but I want her._

"Who?" Lexoc inquired groggily, albeit harshly.

The creature let out a long evil laugh. It was a terrible shrieking sound. "Ifss I toldss youss thatss, itss wouldn'tss bess a sssecret. Thenss againss," the reptile put a hand to his cheek in thought, "youss won'tss bess leavingsss. SsNercasss. Iss wantss SsNercasss."_ If I told you it wouldn't be a secret. Then again, you won't be leaving. Nerca. I want Nerca._

Jesbra gulped. "Nerca?"

"Yessss."_ Yes._

"Why do you want Nerca?" Lexoc demanded.

He laughed again. "I'msss notss tellingsss."_ I'm not telling._

_Nerca, Oliso, Keldu stay away!_ Jesbra tried to reach out to them again._ Stay away, he's after you!_

But like before, she was cut off. And this creature in front of her was the one cutting them off.


	16. Chapter 16

Chapter 16

Nerca could hardly believe the Mettranaloovye—or someone associated with them—had dragged Lexoc and Jesbra out of there without leaving any sort of a trace. Nerca had felt Keldu's effort to reach them then the tiniest feeling of Jesbra's presence come back as she tried to reply.

At least that meant they were alive.

Someone connected to the Mettranaloovye was the one cutting them off; Nerca could feel it. And it was a presence she had felt before, but she didn't quite know how.

It was bugging her endlessly, tormenting her and teasing her saying, "You know me, but you can't identify me!"

The Mettranaloovye's presence filled the room and vibrated off the walls in a feeling like experiencing an intense heat. It felt as if it cut off her Force sense at the walls.

She could see Oliso's eyebrows knitting together on her fore head as she too thought about this other presence. Oliso came closer to Nerca and whispered.

"I know this presence, but I don't know how," she said. "It is one of anger and the dark side, but I don't think I know any one who went to the dark side who felt like this."

"I thought so to."

Keldu interrupted their whispering. "How are we going to get out of here?" she said loudly.

"Get out? Why?" Nerca asked striding closer to Keldu. "They fell down here."

"Well there's no way to go any where from here."

"True," Oliso said, coming forward to join them.

Nerca sighed. "I guess so." She surveyed the pit looking for escapes. Nothing. Only the holes in the roof over head. Their lightsabers would short out in the mud, the vine mat was far over head and their cable launchers wouldn't grab onto the mud walls or the vine mat.

They should have thought of that before they came down!

Then Oliso smiled. "I have an idea. But you might not like it very much…"

Nerca turned to directly face her. "What?"

-----

"Watch your foot!" Nerca shouted at Oliso, above her.

Oliso had thought up to make a human pyramid and somehow, against her will and expressed opinions, Nerca had wound up at the bottom. Oliso was perched on Nerca's shoulders and Keldu on her shoulders. Their tower was unstable... Nerca really hoped Keldu hurried.

Keldu would climb out and drop down a vine, allowing Nerca and Oliso to climb up. They would find some way to follow the Mettranaloovye's trail and rescue their friends.

Thick, dark, warm mud rained down on Nerca's head as Keldu made the leap from Oliso's shoulders to the mud wall. Her fingers gripped the edge of the mud and held her up. The remaining tower of Oliso and Nerca staggered then balanced.

"Nice Keldu," Nerca said shaking the mud from her golden hair. "I've always wondered how I'd look as a brunette."

"Sorry," Keldu called as she scrambled to the top of the ledge. She swung herself over and disappeared from sight. Nerca could her searching for a vine that would be long enough, strong enough and thick enough for Nerca and Oliso to climb.

The thick green vine swung over the dirt cliff and landed neatly in Oliso's hands. A great weight lifted from Nerca's shoulders as Oliso climbed upward. Nerca stepped back as Oliso climbed higher and higher pushing off against the wall. She disappeared quickly and the vine was again lowered. Nerca didn't waste time climbing the whole vine. She made a Jedi-sized leap half-way up the mud wall, her boots sinking into the mud in a jump that no ordinary human could have made. She grabbed the vine and pulled herself the rest of the way up.

Once she cleared the edge, her eyes adjusted easily to the light outside the dark pit. Easier than they should have. It was dark in the forest, for the night had fallen very quickly. How long had they been down there?

Uunja's twin, fuchsia-colored moons gave off the only light and even that was small. The night of that world was extremely different than most others Nerca had visited over the years. Instead of being pitch black or even gray, it was purple from the moons and dark green from filtering through the tall trees. Instead of being cool, it was rather humid. In the night, more animals would be out and walking across the speeder tracks the Jedi were following, making it more difficult to follow them.

The Jedi would have no trouble in the dark, especially since this night wasn't exactly dark, for a Jedi who had the Force as their ally didn't need eyes.

But what got to Nerca was that they had been down there for so long and now the Mettranaloovye probably had out night patrols. Nerca wouldn't mind fighting off a couple of attack droids, track droids or even a couple of guards, but it probably wasn't wise to give off their position.

"Now what?" Nerca asked Oliso and Keldu. "They'll have night patrols no doubt."

"Yes, but we need to keep moving." Even as she spoke, Oliso began walking again. Nerca followed without speaking.

They had to find Lexoc and Jesbra fast. More and more could happen in this time… Jesbra and Lexoc could be moved off-planet, injured, interrogated, harmed in any manner of ways…

Those thoughts kept nagging at and pestering Nerca.

Not to mention Nerca had a growing sense of something that was just waiting to go terribly wrong.


	17. Chapter 17

Chapter 17

Lexoc felt like someone had dropped a hundred-kilo sack of sand on her and spun her head around backwards. She had serious trouble dragging herself up to sit by Jesbra.

"What are we going to do?" she asked, putting a hand to her forehead to stop the dizziness that swam in her head. The hissing creature had left them, but Lexoc still felt the dark shadow of his presence. "We can't just sit here. We have to escape. But how?"

"I don't know. This crate is sealed tight."

"Perhaps that control panel?"

"Locked."

"Not for a Jedi," Lexoc reminded her. She pushed herself the rest of the way up and crawled to the panel, fighting her swimming head the whole way. She pushed her dizziness aside and concentrated on the lock. Lexoc felt it vibrate then shake, then a cold restraining and blanketing feeling swept over her.

She could almost hear the snake's shrieking laughter and his voice taunting, _Notss ssstrongss enoughss, aress yousss?_

Dizziness over took her and she fell to the ground. Jesbra caught her and Lexoc smiled under a new idea.

"Together," she whispered.

Jesbra nodded. "Together," she repeated.

Lexoc sat up and closed her eyes again. She concentrated once more on the lock and Jesbra joined her. The lock shook violently and began to crack in half. It finally snapped and Lexoc slumped backward exhausted.

"They must've double-dosed you," Jesbra said as she helped Lexoc to prop herself up against the wall. "Something that small wiping you. Yes, they most certainly double-dosed you on whatever drug they used to keep us out."

"Probably," Lexoc agreed. "Pull the panel."

Jesbra pulled the control panel out of its slot and began examining the workings behind it. "Wish Nerca were here. I don't get a bit of all these wires."

Lexoc managed to sit up enough to see the workings behind the previously locked control panel. "I don't either."

"I wish I would've listened to some of that mech-and-tech-talk she goes on about." Jesbra sighed and inserted her hands into the wires. "Could've saved us now."

"Just look for the largest wire and pull it," Lexoc groaned, frowning. "Maybe it'll short the bars."

Jesbra turned to glare at Lexoc. "And maybe it'll give me the biggest shock of my life."

"The Force would warn you if it was going to be a fatal or damaging action."

"You know, Lexoc, somehow that still doesn't quite reassure me."

Lexoc shoved her lightly. "Just do it."

Jesbra sighed again. Lexoc saw her squint and insert both of her hands into the wire-workings. She ripped one thick, orange wire out of the mess with a quick jerk as the wires flashed in a sudden blue spark. The lights outside of the crate dimmed, then powered up again as the back-up lights kicked into place.

"Keep pulling," Lexoc told her, trying to get a glimpse of the control panel again. "What I wouldn't give for a lightsaber right now."

Jesbra turned to her and glared again. "You're pulling this time."

"Fine." Jesbra scooted out of the way and Lexoc slid into her place. She looked at the wires closely then put her hands into the circuits. She felt around for the largest wire then yanked as hard and as quickly as she could.

The wire snapped out in a flash of blue sparks brighter than that of Jesbra's attempt. Lexoc jerked back as the explosion widened … and the electric bars powered down.

She pumped a fist in the air. "Yes!" she shouted.

"_Yes_, let's get moving!" Jesbra snapped back, considerably quieter than Lexoc's shout. Lexoc put a hand to her mouth and crawled as quickly as she could to the now open window. The window was just barely large enough for Lexoc to slither through with a great effort, but there was no way that Jesbra would be able to crawl out through the window.

Lexoc pushed her way out with a struggle and began searching for a way to get Jesbra out. From the outside she could see that the front wall of the crate, the one on which the window sat, lowered or separated somehow. She could also see that the small room that the crate sat in held a seat with straps and an interrogator droid that hovered on stand-by near the chair that was clearly meant for unpleasant interrogations. Lexoc shivered glad to be getting out of there. Who knew what would have happened if they had stayed there another few hours?

She found the switch near the chair on a control panel that seemed to operate every thing in the room, and she flicked it. Slowly, the door lowered. Jesbra hurried out of the crate, obviously as glad to be out of there as Lexoc. She saw the chair and shuddered as Lexoc had.

"Let's get out of here." Jesbra hurried out of the room faster than she had out of the crate.

Lexoc threw one last glance around the room, shuddered and hurried after Jesbra. Only to run into the hissing creature and his glowing red lightsaber.

He chuckled softly, glancing momentarily back at two guards that were holding a struggling Jesbra between them.

"Let me go!" she was shouting, fighting and biting.

The snake hissed something at the guards and one of them pulled out a stun-gun. He pumped a blue stun-bolt into Jesbra, dropping her to the ground. She rose to her knees fighting with all of her Jedi strength against the effects of the stun but the guard pumped another bolt into her. This time she collapsed unconscious to the ground with a moan.

The guards turned to Lexoc; she attempted to run but the ruby-bladed saber held her back. She turned with all of her strength to face the stun, called on all of the strength of that she could show in her face and prepared to give them one heck of a fight. Lexoc lowered her eyes as they pumped the first shot and pushed the effects away with no trouble. The second shot was a little more difficult, but still no problem for her. The guards seemed surprised that she still stood after the two shots that had dropped her companion, the slightly older Jedi. Right after she pushed away the effects of the third, Lexoc took advantage of the guards' surprise and lunged on the first guard, lifted him then hurled him into the other guard. Before they even had a chance to stand, Lexoc called the stun-gun to her hand and pumped a couple of bolts into each of them. She turned to the snake with a wry smile.

"Good, yes? Better fight than you expected?"

The snake smiled back evilly. "ssNot at all. ssNot at all."


	18. Chapter 18

Chapter 18

Jesbra awoke from her stun-sleep in an interrogator chair similar to the one in the room that she—and hopefully Lexoc—had just escaped from. In the room with her stood two short beings, on the other end of the room tending to something that Jesbra couldn't quite make out; one a human male, the other an Ishtoni female. They apparently weren't watching her; they were completely absorbed in whatever it was they were working on.

Excellent. That provided chance for escape.

Jesbra rose up against the straps with all of her strength. They were stronger leather than she had thought. Her moving didn't seem to affect the man and the Ishtoni, they kept on talking in low voices and moving around whatever was situated on that table.

_They don't care, do they? Yeah, but who knows what kind of trouble they'll be in when I escape? _

Again Jesbra pushed her way up against the straps, using the Force this time to yank the straps away from her body.

They gave with a loud _snap-pop_ and Jesbra leapt from the chair quicker than a hungry, hunting, jungle cat pounced on a womp rat. This time they turned and the man had a stunner. Jesbra's hand went immediately to where her lightsaber would have dangled against her hip. Her hand brushed against her empty belt. She grunted as she remembered where it was and instead called the stunner to her hand.

It flew from the man's grip and into Jesbra's quicker than the Ishtoni's six-eyed blink. Without thought Jesbra pumped a bolt into each of them, dropping them helpless to the floor. On the man's face froze a slight sign of fear and the Ishtoni froze with all three pairs of her thin brows arched high.

Jesbra hurried past them to the door, then froze as if she had been hit with one of those bolts. The snake stood in the hall but he wasn't alone. He battled with Lexoc—who had somehow managed to recover her lightsaber—as he would in a Jedi training match at the Temple to try and persuade a Master that he was a worthy Padawan Learner.

Guards and scientists alike had gathered like spectators at the Galactic Games at both ends of the halls. Without thinking Jesbra began blasting them with the stunner. They fell one by one until there were only heaps of unconscious bodies stacking up in the wide corridor.

Jesbra turned to fire a shot into the snake but something warned her back, something that seemed like Lexoc.

_No, Jesbra, _it said lightly. _Run. It's the only chance for either of us._

_No. I won't leave you, _she replied.

_You have to._

Jesbra paused for a moment considering her options. Leave her friend and finally fulfill the taunts that the other Jedi students had nagged at her—that she would never stay for a friend, she was too much of a rebel and a loner—or distract the Dark Jedi and give Lexoc a chance to escape.

Either way it was a tough decision and she didn't have time to sit and ponder over her action.

She made the decision quickly.

Instead of listening to the voice, Jesbra shot a couple of shots into the green snake's scaly back then turned on her heels and ran. Not enough shots to drop a Dark Jedi, but enough to momentarily slow him down and make him angry.

His loud footsteps followed her down the hall as she ran. His toe claws made a distinct _click-click-click _apart from the normal _clunk-clunk-clunk _of human or humanoid boots.

Once, when winding through the endless corridors, Jesbra nearly ran into a group of armed scientists. They, side by side began covering with blaster fire; no easy stun-guns this time. Jesbra ducked down a different corridor like a frightened lizard and began firing stun bolts up the corridor behind her to discourage anyone from following.

She reached a lift tube and slammed her hand on the summoning button as hard as she could; staying here even a couple of extra minutes increased the chance that the snake would seek her out.

But it was too late.

"Sssso, yousss thoughtss yousss couldss ssrun?" the hiss came from behind her. She turned to face the snake slowly. His saber was raised and Jesbra's lightsaber hung at his waist. "Dead end, Jedi." The last phrase came out without much hissing, as if the snake had practiced that phrase many times for human ears.

The lift tube sounded that it was ready. Jesbra smiled at him quickly. "Oh, really?"

She back-sprung to the inside of the tube, slamming her hand into the up control for heading to the ground surface; she had no idea how she even knew she was below ground. She knew that the snake would bring the lightsaber through the door to the lift tube causing it to freeze before it ever began its ascent; but she pushed the pod upward in the tube with all the power of the Force that she could muster.

The pod reached the surface in a matter of seconds, the doors slid open and Jesbra darted out at a dead run. A single blaster bolt streaked past her head as she ran, but she dodged and pumped a stun bolt into the blaster's owner.

She kept up the run for a few standard minutes, enough to get her free for at least long enough to try and reach out to Nerca, Oliso, and Keldu.

She was beyond the snake's reach.

_Help me. _

Her message was simple as was her reply._ Jesbra! Hold on! Hold on!_

She began to run again when fatigue and sickness hit her like a wave. The others must've felt it for they all replied again in unison.

_HOLD ON!_

She leaned against a tree for support. The thought came to her that they must've drugged her during her stun-sleep.

_Why you evil snake!_ she snarled in her mind, trying to push the thought at the snake._ Wait until I get my hands on you! _She gritted her teeth as she tried to stand against the sudden swarm of fatigue.

The weariness pounded her, demanding she drop to the ground and sleep right now, but she stumbled onward, fighting the effects with the Force.

Fatigue and the sickness hit her again and she collapsed to the ground with a moan.

Blackness overtook her quickly.


	19. Chapter 19

Chapter 19

Oliso could now feel Jesbra, her fatigue, sickness and some strange thoughts that she had right before her collapse, but she still couldn't feel Lexoc. This bewildered and alarmed Oliso deeply. How could Jesbra have left Lexoc? Surely that was what had happened…

The trees snatched at Oliso's hair as she ran; the roots grabbed at her boots and the mud tried to soak her in completely. Even if they couldn't get to Lexoc yet, they could get to Jesbra and help her.

Oliso leaped and flipped over a root, drawing her lightsaber as the Force warned her. She landed on smooth ground and sliced out with the green blade to carve through a creature that had leapt out of the forest to attack them. She flicked off the blade with her thumb and continued running through the brush to catch up with Nerca and Keldu who had gained more distance as Oliso had stopped to sever the creature in two.

It was now mid-morning and the Jedi had tracked all night. The light still held a bit of that fuchsia colored night but blended with the blue of morning and dawn. Early morning mists still surrounded the forest, moistening everything… making it slippery. Oliso was glad she had the Force to balance herself out, for a normal person could not have handled it at all…

She felt Jesbra as she got nearer, and she quickened her pace to one that no ordinary human, going without sleep for two days or otherwise, would have been able to make. But, of course, Oliso, like her peers, was no ordinary human, nor had she ever been. She was Jedi.

Keldu and Nerca were both kneeling down to lift Jesbra up off of the ground next to a giant tree. Oliso leapt out to help them drag her up, seeing with her trained Jedi healer's eye that it wasn't just ordinary fatigue that had caused Jesbra to go out.

She'd been _drugged_.

Oliso knew by experience the look on Jesbra's face. And she wouldn't be able to help Jesbra after she'd been drugged without the medical kit that had been left on board the_ Cosmic Dragon_ what seemed like eternities ago.

But she _did_ have a stimulant to help wake Jesbra and a mild reverser for the drug that should help until they could retrieve the full medical kit.

Nerca and Keldu dragged Jesbra to lean against a tree while Oliso removed the necessary medicines from her belt.

She worked quickly taking the needle from her belt pouch, assembling and loading it then injecting a fair sized amount of stimulant into Jesbra's blood. Oliso began to prepare another needle for the drug reverser when Jesbra stirred.

She moaned slightly, then opened her eyes. Her eyes held the look of one just awakening from a long sleep for just a moment then urgency flared into her eyes. "How long have I been out?" Her eyes darted quickly around her.

"We don't know," Oliso replied injecting the dose of reverser. "Can you walk?"

"Sure."

"Let's get going then," Keldu said, standing to leave.

Jesbra frowned. "Going?" she asked. "Where? You don't know the way."

"I don't know where you're wanting to go, but we're heading back to the_ Dragon_," Nerca said rising and pulling Jesbra with her. "You need more medical attention."

"_No_. We have to go for Lexoc." Jesbra began walking away quickly, heading in the opposite direction of the Kindred Knights' ship. "_Now_."

Nerca stopped her just a little roughly with a hand. "You _need_ attention," she repeated, an edge starting to creep into her voice.

"Not more than Lexoc. A Jedi must put themselves aside for others." She turned to face them, her face serious. "I_ have_ to go back. Even if it's _without_ you."

"Don't be stupid," Oliso said, rising. "We'll go with you, but _I _have to warn _you_. If we don't go back to the_ Dragon _and get you full help," she grimaced, "there'll most likely be side effects."

Jesbra seemingly considered that for a moment, then shook her head adamantly. "No. We have to go for Lexoc _now_." She turned and resumed her walking. "Right now I'm not too worried about my side effects."

They all sighed and continued to follow Jesbra.

Nerca seemed very troubled by Jesbra's insistence on going without caring for her side effects. Oliso couldn't decide if it was just natural worry for her friend or something else.

Oliso decided that she'd better ask.

"Nerca?" she asked laying a hand softly on her shoulder. "What is it?"

"Jesbra," she replied shortly.

"I know that, but what about Jesbra?"

Nerca's gaze drifted forward and rested almost dreamily on Jesbra. "I don't want her to have the same problems I do."

"She'll heal."

Nerca's eyes came lightly to Oliso. "Can you guarantee that?"

"No," Oliso replied softly. "Of course I can't. No one can really ever guarantee anything. It is the course of Life. But I know Jesbra, and she has more Jedi healing than you did when you were seventeen, and us to help her."

Nerca shook her head. "I don't know. I just don't know."

"Nerca, how long where you held prisoner?"

"About a week."

"How long was Jesbra there?"

"Not quite a day. But it's not just her health that I'm worried about. Oliso, being with those liars, and their evil experiments…" she paused and her eyes gained a far off distant look to them. "It does things to you, Oliso. It makes you feel worthless, and even when you get over that part, you're changed. It changed me, and I don't want Jesbra to wind up changed like I was. And I want to get Lexoc out of there as soon as possible, but I don't think it's a good idea to take Jesbra back."


	20. Chapter 20

Chapter 20

Keldu listened to Jesbra in disbelief. A dark Jedi, snake?

"Wait, a Dark Jedi?" Nerca asked from behind. Keldu and Jesbra stopped to turn to Oliso and Nerca who had fallen behind. Nerca and Oliso exchanged a look. "And you said he's a snake?"

"That only leaves one possibility," Oliso said.

"Who is it, then?" Jesbra asked, a little fearful by what Keldu could read.

"Rix."

Jesbra's eyes gained understanding. "Rix? No it can't be. There is no way that that hissing creature is him."

"By your description, it's him."

"Hold up for a minute," Keldu gestured with her hand. "Would anyone mind telling me who this Rix is?"

"Right," Nerca said. "He was before your time. Rix was a student at the Temple, a strong one too. He was undefeated in saber matches, until he fought me. I bested him and incidentally wounded his high pride."

"After that he lost to me," Jesbra said lightly. "And again his pride was wounded."

"He lost again to me," Oliso said, "and at the time they were suggesting me to be mainly a healer. So I dealt a giant blow to his already crippled pride. After that, he began to fall back in classes, losing more and more of the respect from the other students, and he was hardly ever talked about. That's probably why you never heard of him. Rix became angry because he had lost his position and the Masters feared that he would become subject to the dark side and he was expelled from the Temple when he was eleven. Right around the time that he would have possibly been chosen for a Padawan."

"He had great potential and I managed to ruin him," Nerca said softly.

"You didn't do it alone," Jesbra comforted. "Oliso and I also wounded his pride, and so did the other students."

"Yes, but I prepared the way for them to do it."

"Nerca trust us on this part," Oliso said. "It wasn't all your fault."

"No, but now I see why he'd want revenge on me," Nerca said.

Keldu nodded. "I see it too, but enough with the past. You can't fix it now. But maybe you can make it up to Rix."

Nerca nodded. "Maybe. Let's get moving. Let's get there before he decides to take it out on Lexoc."

-----

Moments later Jesbra stopped them with a hand. "Careful, it's just ahead and guarded. Sneaking in is our best choice."

Nerca shook her head. "No, its not."

"Why not?" Keldu asked.

"Rix," she answered. "He'll feel our presence."

"Well then, what do you propose we do?" Jesbra asked.

Nerca laughed lightly. "This," she said. She stood and just took off in the direction of the Mettranaloovye's hide out, whooping all the way.

"Great, just alert the whole planet that we're here," Jesbra said sarcastically. "Then they can have the whole security force on us." In spite of her obvious disapproval, Jesbra then stood and followed Nerca's example.

"Go!" Oliso whispered into Keldu's ear.

With a shout Keldu stood and followed whooping after them. She heard Oliso rise and follow her. By then with all four of them screaming and shouting it had gotten quite loud, but then a sound cracked through all of the shouting: the _snap-hiss_ of an ignited lightsaber. Keldu turned into a clearing to see Nerca's lightsaber spring to life, casting a purple light over everything in sight.

But there were no guards in sight. The only other person in the clearing was Jesbra.

"Nerca!" Jesbra shouted. "What are you doing?"

Nerca's lightsaber turned on Jesbra who was unarmed.

"You're _mad_!" Jesbra's eyes flicked around desperately for a weapon to use in defense and rested on Keldu's lightsaber.

Keldu stepped back, knowing Jesbra's move. She gripped it with all of her might but despite her resistance it flew from her grip into Jesbra's outstretched hands.

The blue blade snapped to life with a hum and met the purple one in mid air. Keldu wanted to rush out and put a halt to the fighting but something in the way Nerca stood warned her back.

The blades remained locked together for a moment then released again. Jesbra's blade went for a high slice at Nerca's shoulder but the purple blade intercepted the move. Nerca and Jesbra's eyes met for a moment, then Nerca back-flipped over Jesbra's shoulder catching her by surprise. Nerca kicked out with her right foot and sent Keldu's saber back into her hands.

She pulled something from her pocket and injected it into Jesbra's arm. Jesbra fell to the ground unconscious and Nerca spoke. "This is for your own good."


	21. Chapter 21

Chapter 21

Lexoc pushed, trying to struggle free but it was no use. They had her. How could Jesbra have abandoned her when she needed it?

Lexoc had almost had that snake when Jesbra had come down the corridor with a stunner, knocked off the crowd that had gathered to watch Lexoc battle the snake, then shot a bolt into the snake and took off down the corridor. The snake had given chase and Lexoc had started off after them. She had come around the corner to find Jesbra shooting upward in a lift tube, leaving Lexoc alone to fight the snake and his helpers.

Single-handed.

Even for a Jedi, it just couldn't be done without help.

She had fought greatly, taking out at least thirty or forty Mettranaloovye, all while battling with the snake. But then he had gotten the slip on her, kicking her lightsaber from her hand, scratching her hands with his claws while doing so, and sending in five or six guards to hold her back. She had managed to sear the scales on one of his hands, singe his tunic and make a small cut in his arm.

Then Lexoc had pushed free of the six guards, gotten a hold of the snake's neck with one hand and snatched his lightsaber from his belt with the other. She had come seriously close to ridding the galaxy of one more evil maniac, when the guards had pounced on her. She had sliced a couple through with the saber, then the snake had clawed at her throat with those giant claws. Lexoc had jumped up and surveyed her neck for damage. He had succeeded in little more than running a couple of surface scratches on her neck, but the guards were pouncing again.

She sliced two more through but one got hold of her legs, toppling her to the floor. The snake had then sunk his claws into Lexoc's boot tearing it open and cutting the flesh inside. Lexoc had let go of the lightsaber in pain and surprise and the snake had grabbed it quicker than Lexoc could blink.

At least ten guards had grabbed hold of her and dragged her to her feet.

Now the snake stood in front of her, rasping for breath and Lexoc could see red circles wrapping themselves around his green scaled neck. "Youss havesss foughtsss wellsss, Jediss," he hissed with obvious disapproval. His hissing was five times worse with his loss of breath. "Butsss nowsss itssss oversss, nowsss becausssse of yoursss sssstrugling, Isss thinkss Isss wantsss revengesss onss allsss of yoursss friendssss."

"I wasn't and I'm still not going out without a fight," Lexoc warned. "Bring it on, snake. I welcome your fight."

"Yourss rightss, butsss Iss won't besss fightingss." He looked over his shoulder, and out of the shadows appeared a dark cloaked figure.

Just the dark cloak and the way he carried himself betrayed his identity to Lexoc.

And she wasn't happy about it.

"Llanef," she snarled.

He stepped into the light and threw back the hood of his cloak, revealing a dark skinned face that was marked with small scars but one large crescent moon shaped scar interrupted his dark skin with a white spot on his right cheek and black eyes with white slit pupils. That skin and those dark eyes, that struck fear into other species, belonged to the males of Pirapoi's first tribe of people, the Ice People. Pirapoian men looked like average dark-skinned humans except for those eyes and that they had an extra thumb that lay hidden in their palm. Llanef's hair reached halfway down his back in a tail, darker than a moonless night.

"I couldn't let you and your friends ruin my reputation," Llanef said in a deep voice that was marked with hardships. "So now because you pursued and found me, you are sentenced to die at my hand. As are your friends."

"You're wrong. Give me your best shot. You won't make it, not against a Jedi. If only one of us gets out of this joint alive rest assured it'll be me."  
"Not a chance, Jedi." A large blaster rifle appeared in his hand, aimed for Lexoc's heart. "I'd say I'm the one coming out alive."

"Then say again."

Lexoc dove back as he fired and blasted all of the guards out of her way. She jumped to her feet from where the rifle had dropped her to the ground in its giant blast. She started to run, but decided to surprise Llanef by reversing on him.

Lexoc took a sharp one-hundred-eighty degree turn and dove at his feet. She grabbed Llanef's ankles just as he fired another red-orange blast from the rifle that hit the durasteel floor behind her. The force of the bolt drove her forward harder into his legs, toppling him. He dropped the rifle and it slid down the corridor. She stood over him arms raised for combat.

"Now who's making it out alive?" she asked.

He slid from under her and hopped to his feet a couple of meters away. "It's not over yet."

Lexoc let him leap first. He pounced aiming a punch for her head and she ducked. She swung her leg to tangle his and drop him but him jumped. She came up to punch again and he blocked, like she planned. Lexoc pushed against his arms occupying him with her hands as she brought her foot up. Her boot connected with his jaw with a crunch, causing him to bring his hands up to feel the damage.

She pushed him to the ground with the Force as three familiar presences crept into her feelings.

Oliso, Keldu, Nerca …

Where was Jesbra?

_Later_, Nerca's voice said. _Meet us top ground_.

Lexoc turned from Llanef and ran to find a turbo-lift. She had to hurry to her friends before the snake found them.


	22. Chapter 22

Chapter 22

Nerca felt Rix's presence long before he came into view. He blended in to the green forest well, even his tan tunic blended in.

He looked exactly the same as he had eight years ago, only a little taller. He was tall, thin, those same large yellow eyes, green-scaled, fanged and clawed. He was the same Rix she had known, only evil.

And as Nerca had thought, a lightsaber dangled at his belt.

"Rix," Nerca hissed as she came within earshot of him.

"SsNercasss," he hissed back. It was easy for her to understand his hissing because she had known him, but she could see that for Keldu it was not. "I've waited years for this day: the day we fought again. Now I'll prove to you, as to the rest of the Jedi, who's the better fighter, who has what it takes to come out on top. Who is the better Jedi, the stronger fighter," he said with a great amount of hissing that Nerca ignored. "That Rix still has what it takes to be on top, that he can defeat Nerca Beyul. And that after he defeats Nerca he can defeat all of her friends that once defeated him."

"Rix, it doesn't have to be this way," Nerca soothed. "We can put the past behind us and live the future instead of living the past. We can put aside old grievances and form new friendships. You can return to Coruscant with us and continue your training," she offered. "What do you say?"

"Never," Rix hissed. "I was undefeated! Then you came along. You ruined my life. Do you know how they laughed when you won, healer?" he hissed at Oliso. "'Rix lost to a healer who's not even fit to carry a saber!' they taunted. You ruined my life, you Nerca, you, Healer and your friend Pupal! Do you have any idea how those taunts hurt?"

"They only hurt because you let them hurt," Oliso accused. "If you would have put them aside, they wouldn't have hurt. Now, you have a second chance to put them aside and you're denying it?"

"For this," he hissed violently, "there is no second chance! No second chance for me to fix this and no second chance for you to make it right!"

"But there is," Keldu spoke up for the first time. "There _is_ a second chance. Two second chances. You just don't see them. You don't want to see them. Why?"

"I told you!" he shouted. "They ruined my life! Now, it's my right to ruin theirs."

Rix lunged for Nerca first, almost as if he were intent on ruining their lives in the sequence that they supposedly ruined his life. He would attack Nerca, find Jesbra, take care of her then finish the 'healer' then finally take care of their friends Lexoc and Keldu. Rix's lightsaber ignited into a fiery red blade, as Nerca had suspected, and sliced for Nerca's left shoulder. She blocked with the bluish-red blade, pushing with all of her strength.

Rix's reptilian muscles had grown considerably stronger.

Nerca freed her saber from the lock and sliced to divide Rix in half by separating his legs from his torso. He blocked. She tried a couple more slices at Rix and he blocked every one. His fighting skills had increased greatly.

_You're not letting the Force flow through you, completely_, something in her head warned. _If you do not let it flow, you are destined to fail._

Nerca knew the voice was right. If she did not let go she would fail. And failure could mean her death, Oliso's death, Keldu's death, Jesbra's discovery and death and Lexoc's death. Five lives hanging in the balance of this fight, resting at the moment in Nerca's hands.

And her mastery of the Force.

_Let go. You must let go._

And in submission to the voice, she let go.

Nerca saw his moves before they were made, saw the best way to attack, saw the ways to keep him from getting near to Oliso and Keldu. It was like slowing down time, having all-seeing eyes and being only sub-conscious.

The Force guided her every move.

Then Oliso joined in the battle.

Rix deflected both of their lightsabers, Nerca's violet blade and Oliso's emerald blade. He battled against them both with his single saber for long moments against the odds of two to one, then gained another ruby blade in his other hand. The two red blades connected with the violet and emerald blades in brilliant flashes.

Nerca felt Keldu move swiftly for the entrance to the fortress. She was headed for Lexoc.

But Rix wasn't about to give up his prize.

He triple back-flipped toward Keldu, his ruby sabers still drawn and rotating with his flips. Rix struck out at Keldu but her sapphire blade rose to block.

Nerca leaped to follow, pushing with the Force and propelling herself a good ten meters to stand before Rix. Oliso did the same off to her left side. Nerca pushed with her violet blade against Rix's blade, driving it back to give Keldu a chance to run. Rix swung his other red lightsaber, identical to the first, toward Nerca but the emerald blade blocked.

_Go!_ Nerca mentally shouted at Keldu.

Keldu wasted no time bolting toward the entrance to the Mettranaloovye's fortress. Only to stop short as Lexoc emerged carrying some sort of weapon …

But with Llanef and forty attack droids in tow.


	23. Chapter 23

Chapter 23

Keldu ducked and rolled out of the way of Llanef's rifle, coming up with her sapphire blade raised to deflect attack droid fire. Two green bolts glanced off of the blade and streaked back at the droid who had fired, landing in the joint between its head and neck. The horribly formed face flew from the silver plated body, revealing the inner workings of the droid.

She stretched out with the Force and yanked hard on its head. The thin neck snapped with a sharp pop and the head rocketed toward Keldu. She ducked as the head flew at her and pushed it as hard as she could into another droid. Both toppled.

She took one big sweep and sliced straight through five droids. Keldu pulled her lightsaber back in the other direction while stepping forward and took out another row of five.

She kept moving, slicing her way through line after line of droids and moving in Rix's direction.

He was moving, _fast_.

She wouldn't be able to catch up with him before he made it to a starship and blasted away, and they wouldn't make it back to the _Cosmic Dragon_ either.

So Rix had slipped from their grasp, but maybe she could still catch Llanef. But just then the _Hunter's Prize_ rocketed by over head, firing its laser cannons into the forest and setting it ablaze. One large tree very near to Keldu went up instantly into flames. She ran as hard as she could toward it with a plan in mind.

Reaching it, she held her sapphire blade high and with one mighty sweep brought the giant tree crashing down, taking out most of the remaining droids. The grass in the area all went up in flames and Mettranaloovye began charging from their fortress. Keldu spotted Lexoc running in the crowd, and Nerca and Oliso on the outside of the ring of grass fire.

Most of the Mettranaloovye who tried to run across the grass burned to death on the spot but those who did make it across ran straight into the Jedi and their lightsabers.

Lexoc was one of those who made it across, and as she neared Keldu could see her holding two objects in her hands. Then relief hit Keldu as she realized what they were: two lightsabers. Lexoc's and Jesbra's.

Just then another starship blazed by over head and the _Hunter's Prize_ followed it into the upper atmosphere.

_Rix must be aboard that ship_, Keldu thought her muscles tightening. _So, that's it. The battle's over, the fight is done and we lost Rix _and_ Llanef. But we did what we came to do._

_It is a victory, at least in part._

Later, the Jedi rounded up the remaining Mettranaloovye, found the _Cosmic Dragon_ and Jesbra.

And discovered that Jesbra was now blind.

Oliso claimed that it was only temporary and that within a couple of weeks Jesbra's eyesight would return. It was an effect of the Mettranaloovye sickness, according to Oliso. The effect of not getting immediate treatment. Lexoc had some minor side effects, but nothing near to the sickness Jesbra had.

Now, the _Cosmic Dragon_ streaked through hyperspace on its way back to Coruscant, and Nerca explained what she thought the answers were to the loose ends.

"When we thought Tonuu wasn't telling the whole truth, she wasn't telling us that she did know Anicaa, quite well actually. She had come in secret to Uunja for help after the Emh incident, against the will of the Verdinian people. They didn't wish to get caught up in the conflict between the Uunjaians and the Roloci.

"The particles I found on the banister," Nerca held up the small tube and emptied some of its contents onto her hand, "were a result of the type of engines on Rix's starfighter. It appears he was there after Llanef attacked Tonuu. I have examined them closely and run them through the IFF and have found the name of his fighter and its statistics. The '_Victorious_' is a Tillisian fighter, _Coruscant_-class. Made in the unpopular shipyards orbiting Mil Ryyial, and modified.

"I still can't figure how he moved Lexoc and Jesbra from that pit so quickly, but I guess we'll never know." They all nodded.

"Taking over Uunja was his plan to lure us into his trap. He obviously hired Llanef to shoot Anicaa, sending the Uunjaians leaping onto the Roloci and starting the war that would lead most of the military forces away. Siding with the Mettranaloovye was an opportunity to seize us through my past with them and the information that my old pal Eli Jumelu supplied about me." Nerca's voice changed a bit toward resentment.

"Sounds reasonable to me, but why go after Tonuu as well?" Jesbra asked, her newly blind eyes staring straight ahead.

"Rix needed a distraction to take up our time while he made last minute preparations. And if the Council sent another Jedi team instead he could plant evidence to send them off on a wild, dead-end chase," Nerca answered. "He already had some of his Mettranaloovye infiltrate the Uunjaian government, so he knew about the connection to Tonuu and Verdin. He knew Verdin was devastated and that Tonuu would go out and try to get help. Niam was a probable place for Tonuu to go, so he infiltrated that government as well."

All of them nodded, but Lexoc could see a shift in Oliso's face. An unwillingness to let something continue but also an unwillingness to expose it. "What is it?" she asked Oliso.

Oliso bit her lip, shook her head, closed her eyes and visibly braced herself. "Nerca didn't tell you the whole truth."

Lexoc frowned.

Jesbra let out a slight gasp.

Keldu's eyes flicked to Nerca.

Nerca's sense changed.

"About what?" Keldu asked cautiously as she leaned forward.

"About the Mettranaloovye," Oliso answered, throwing a glance in Nerca's direction.

Lexoc was about to demand that such accusations were absurd, but by the way Nerca uncrossed her legs and her head leaned down that it was the_ truth_. She was about to ask why when Nerca spoke.

"The Mettranaloovye illness doesn't only extend to you, Lexoc and Jesbra. It extends to me as well." So Nerca was sick as well. But for her to be confessing it now meant her disease had to be … "That's right. My illness isn't temporary like yours. Mine is permanent and terminal. Or it was supposed to be."

Nerca sighed deeply. "The Mettranaloovye sewed a sickness into my skin, in the form of a winding tower of fire with a rose on it. But unfortunately that rose is no ordinary rose. In the picture it is being eaten by something toxic, and again unfortunately it isn't normal either. It is only symbolic of what it will do. It will decay the one whose skin it is sewn into and eventually bring their end. At least it's supposed to. My Master and I defeated the majority of it long ago, but to this day I still face some problems. That's the real reason Oliso knows."

For the longest time every one was silent, and finally when Lexoc broke the silence, she spoke so very softly. "Why didn't you tell us?"

"Because if I did, you'd look down on me because you knew I was ill."

Again there was silence.

"What are we going to do about Rix?" Jesbra asked after what had seemed like an eternity.

"We can't chase him," Nerca said. "He and Llanef made a clean hyperspace jump."

"He's gone, but not for long," Oliso said softly. "He will come after us again."

"But that time, we won't be battling an unseen adversary," Lexoc reminded them.

Keldu nodded. "We succeeded in finding Anicaa's murderer. We just didn't succeed in catching him yet. And my vision didn't come true. That in itself is an ease to part of my worries."

Yes, Lexoc was glad that there hadn't been a loss to the light too.

This mission was over, but there were many more to come. Many more victories and losses, more trials and tribulations, more hopes and joys, more sorrows and despairs.

The future was always in motion, as Master Yoda so often said. Always changing.

Sometimes she could help what was coming; sometimes she couldn't. But she knew one thing about the future for sure: it would be the course the Force set.

And all she could _really_ do was wander along it.


End file.
